


Being Welcomed to the World

by Aravis_Bryir



Series: Welcome to the World [2]
Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid
Genre: Autistic Hannah Foster, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:34:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 38
Words: 76,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26301997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aravis_Bryir/pseuds/Aravis_Bryir
Summary: This is the sequel to 'Welcome to the World'.This story won't make a lot of sense without reading the first one first, so I recommend doing that.
Relationships: Hannah Foster & Ethan Green, Hannah Foster & Lex Foster, Hannah Foster & Webby, Lex Foster & Ethan Green, Lex Foster/Ethan Green
Series: Welcome to the World [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1911025
Comments: 20
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 51

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to book 2!
> 
> Just so you know this starts moments after the last one ended.

They broke apart from the kiss, resting their foreheads against each other’s.

“We’re having a baby.” Ethan says softly, barely above a whisper.

“We’re having a baby.” She repeats, just as softly.

He brushes back a few loose hairs from her face, tucking them behind her ears. His hands rested on her shoulders briefly before trailing down her arms. When he gets down to her hands, he gives them a gentle squeeze before interlacing their fingers.

Lex leans into him, stifling a yawn.

“How about we get you back to bed?” He says, kissing the side of her head.

She wraps her arms around his neck, humming her agreement. She gives him a quick kiss before they walk back into their bedroom hand in hand.

She climbs into bed and he follows, pulling her so close that she was lying half on top of him. He wraps his arms around her gently, as if she would break at the slightest pressure. She didn’t mind though; it was just one of his ways of showing how much he cared.

She lays her hands over his, which were resting on her stomach.

“Do you reckon it’ll be a boy or a girl?” She asked tiredly, tilting her head back so she could see him.

He shrugs. “I don’t know, but I’m gonna say a boy, because we’ve got enough girls already.”

“Then this baby will probably be a girl just to spite you.” She smiles and kisses his cheek.

“Probably.” He said in agreement.

The laid there in silence. He had thought that Lex had fallen asleep until he heard her sniff and saw a tear roll down her cheek.

“Babe? What’s wrong?” He asked, shifting so that they were halfway between sitting up and lying down.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” She said, hurriedly wiping her face with her hands.

He takes her hands in his. “Hey.” He said tenderly. “Talk to me.”

She turns to face him. “I’m so excited for this baby.” She began, though her tone of voice did not reflect her excitement. “I’m just also really scared.” She looked at him and saw that he understood exactly what she meant, but she found that she still needed to explain it to him. “What if this baby dies too? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. What kind of mother can’t even take care of their child long enough for it to be born? Was Ebbi just some kind of fluke? Will I ever successfully give birth again?” Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks now.

He pulls her closer to him, holding her tightly. “What happened with Felicity wasn’t your fault.” He knew why she was scared. He was scared too, though knew that it was unlikely that this baby would die. Ebony was living proof that Lex’s body was fully capable of pregnancy and childbirth. 

“It is though, because who else’s fault could it be?”

“It was no one’s fault. These things happen, and there was nothing you could’ve done for it to have gone any differently.”

“But what if it happens again?” 

“Then we’ll get through it together.” He raises a hand to cup her cheek. “You’re not doing this alone Lex. I’m here for you, I’ll always be here for you. No matter what.”

She looks at him, tears still rolling down her cheeks. “I don’t want this baby to die, Ethan.” She said through a sob. She covers her mouth with one hand as she begins to shake from sobbing.

He pulls her flush against him, rubbing her back as she clings onto him, crying into his shoulder. “This baby isn’t going to die.” He kisses the tops of her head, holding her tightly.

She eventually stops crying and falls asleep, her grip on him slackening slightly. He shifts further down the bed so that they are lying flat. She was still mostly on top of him, but he didn’t mind in the slightest.

He lets out a sigh. He’d be lying if he didn’t say that he was scared for the same reasons Lex was. Though his excitement far outweighed the fear. They were going to have another baby, and he couldn’t wait.

He didn’t care if the baby was a boy or a girl, he already loved it so much.

He knew he wasn’t going to be able to get any more sleep that night. His mind was awash with excitement. His fingers danced lightly over Lex’s stomach. They’re baby, his and Lex’s, was there, and one day he’d get to meet it.

He kissed the top of her head, brushing loose hair away from her face. She was so beautiful when she was asleep, not that she wasn’t when she was awake as well. She was beautiful all the time. But when she slept, she was completely relaxed; except for the occasional nightmare. Back in Hatchetfield, when she slept was the only time she ever got to be relaxed. And even then, she had often slept with a small frown.

The longer they were in California, the less often that frown appeared. Now she sometimes even slept with a soft smile. He loved getting to see that smile. So much hard work had gone into it, into getting them to where they are now. Their reward was their family. And getting to see her smile when she slept.

Carefully he kissed the small smile on her lips. “I love you.” He whispered to her. He then kissed his fingers and held his hand to her stomach. “And I love you. More than either of you could ever know.”

* * *

“Mum, can I get this?” Hannah asked, running over to her holding one of those diamond painting kits. This one being of a butterfly on a sunflower.

“Ask nicely.”

“Please?” She said. Hannah had fully recovered from her bought of flu and was now full of energy. She had spent the whole time they were at the shops running from aisle to aisle, grabbing various items from the shelves.

“How much does it cost?” Lex asks. The kit is handed to her and she turns it over to see the price tag. It was only $15. “Do you reckon you’ll finish this?” She looked at Hannah.

She nods, bouncing up on her toes.

“Alright then, we can get it.” She says, placing the kit inside the shopping trolley next to where Ebony was sitting playing with her teddy bear.

“Yay! Thank you!” Hannah says, wrapping her arms around Lex and squeezing her tightly. “You’re the best mum ever.”

“No worries, Banana.” She said. “You’re hugging a bit to tightly though.” She untangled Hannah from around her.

“Sorry.” She often liked to be squeezed tightly, and would forget that other people didn’t like it as much.

“That’s okay.” She runs her hand over Hannah’s head. “Let’s finish up shopping and head home.”

“Yeah! Can I start on the sparkle picture when we get home?”

“After you help me put the groceries away.”

Hannah pouted.

“Hey, don’t give me that face. Do you want your sparkle picture or not?” She rubbed her thumb across Hannah’s cheek, trying to force her put into a smile.

“I want it.” She put on her biggest and goofiest smile. She slipped between Lex’s arms that were holding onto the trolley. She began to help push it along. 

Whenever they went out shopping; Hannah would be in one of three places. In the trolley with Ebbi, running around the store, or between Lex’s arms helping to push the trolley. It made walking normally a little harder for Lex, but she didn’t mind. It was an easy way to keep track of Hannah and make sure she wasn’t getting overwhelmed.

When they reached the checkout, Hannah decided she was going to be in a rather silly mood. This often happened after she’d recovered from a bad cold. It was like all the energy she hadn’t used on those days spent in bed or on the couch had built up, and now that she was feeling better it exploded out of her. 

Right now, she decided it would be fun to spin herself round and round. She kept laughing the dizzier she got, flapping her hands.

“Don’t stand in the walkway, Hannah.” Lex said, pulling her out of the way of another customer.

“I’m spinning.” She said, not pausing in her spins.

“I know you are, but right now we’ve got to finish the shopping. The sooner we finish this, then the sooner you get to start doing your diamond painting.”

This got Hannah to stop spinning for a bit and help unload the trolley. Though with each item she picked up she shook it to see what would happen. Lex had to keep a close eye on the things she picked up so that she wouldn’t shake things like the carton of eggs.

Lex loaded the shopping bags onto the stroller, taking Ebony out of the trolley and putting her in the seat. 

Whereas Hannah was very much full of energy, Ebony seemed to have non at all. Lex hoped she hadn’t caught the flu, but with the girls sharing a room she probably had.

“Okay, Banana, let’s go.” She said, walking out of the shops, Hannah skipping along besides her.

“Mummy, I’m tired.” Ebony said from the stroller.

“I know. But, we’ll be home soon, then you can have a rest.” She said. She felt Ebony’s forehead and it was definitely starting to feel a little warm. She looked up and saw that Hannah had gone ahead of them and was about to turn the corner onto the next street. “Hannah, slow down.” She called. She sped up her pace trying to keep up.

When Hannah was about to turn the corner she jumped up and down a few times, flapping her hands excitedly before running back over to Lex.

“Mum, I saw a puppy!” She said, stopping in her running to jump along in time with Lex’s walking. “Can I go pat it?”

“You’ll have to ask the owner.” She said, catching a hold of her before she ran off again. “Remember to ask nicely.”

Hannah nods and races over to the dog and its owner, though once she’s nearer she becomes shy. She looks over her shoulder at Lex, grabbing hold of her two braids and rocking back and forth on her heels.

When Lex reaches her, she grabs hold of her hand.

“You can ask. Nothing bad will happen.” She kisses the side of Hannah’s head.

The dog walker seemed to know that Hannah wanted to pat the dog, so had stopped and gave her an encouraging smile.

“Can I pat your puppy?” Hannah whispered, looking down at the dog rather than the owner. “Please?” She added.

“Of course, you can.” The owner said.

Hannah smiled and let go of Lex’s hands to sit on the pavement next to the corgi and cautiously began to pat it. The corgi became very excited and started licking Hannah’s hands and face, causing her to laugh.

“Ebbi, do you wanna pat the puppy?” She asked, turning half away from the dog so she could see Ebony.

She thought about it for a moment before reaching towards the corgi. “Puppy.”

Hannah lifted her out of the stroller and put her down on the ground, taking her hand. “You pat it like this.” She said, showing her what to do.

The dog came over to Ebony, wagging its tail. It jumped up a bit on her, causing her to start crying. She turns and runs straight back over to Lex.

She picks her up, sitting her on her hip. “You’re okay, Ebbi.” She says.

Ebony buries her face into Lex’s shoulder, grabbing onto a chunk of her hair.

“I think it’s time to head home now, Hannah.” Lex says, rubbing Ebony’s back.

She nods and gives the dog a goodbye pat.

“Say thank you.”

“Thank you.” She says shyly to the dog’s owner.

“No worries, you guys have a good day.” The owner says.

“You too.” Lex says and they walk their separate ways.

Hannah happily runs and skips the rest of the way back to the apartment, Lex speed walking with Ebony, the stroller and all the shopping, trying to keep up with her.

When they get inside Hannah starts jumping up and down.

“Sparkles! Sparkles! Sparkles!” She chants.

“You can do you diamond painting once you’ve helped with the shopping. You get started on putting stuff away, I’m just gonna go put Ebbi down for a nap, okay?” Lex said, sounding rather tired. A hyped-up Hannah could be very hard to deal with.

After a few more jumps, she stops and starts peeking at the shopping bags, looking for things that were easy for her to put away.

Lex quickly puts Ebony down in her cot, where she quickly falls asleep, before going back out to help Hannah.

It didn’t take them long to put away the shopping, though were slowed down a little by Hannah holding onto the diamond painting kit and shaking it.

“Sparkles?” She asked when the last item had been put away.

“Yes, you can do your diamond painting now.” Lex said. 

“Yay!”

She took Hannah over to the table and got her going. 

She hunched over her painting, carefully going through each different coloured diamond and finding where it went. Her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth as she concentrated.

The first time she looks up from the picture is when Ethan comes home.

“Dad!” She jumps up from the table and runs over to him, bouncing up and down. She grabs his hand and drags him over to the table. “Mum let me get a sparkle picture, and I got to pat a puppy!”

“Sounds like you’ve had a pretty exciting day.” He says, trying to keep up with the still very energetic Hannah.

“Uh huh.” She nods. “Look.” She holds up her diamond painting for him to see.

“Wow, that’s looking really good, split.”

She smiles widely before hunching back over the image.

Ethan goes to find Lex, spotting her exiting the girls room carrying Ebony.

“Hey babe.” He says giving her a quick kiss. “And hi Ebbi.”

Ebony doesn’t react except to reach for him. He takes her from Lex’s arms.

“Hey.” Lex says with a bit of a sigh, leaning into his side.

“Long day?” He asks.

She nods. “Hannah has been hyper all day and I think Ebbi’s getting the flu.” She says before letting out a yawn.

“And how are you going?” He says, wrapping his arm around her.

“Fine, just tired. You try running after Hannah all day.”

“Fair enough.” He gives her a little squeeze.


	2. Chapter 52

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a disclaimer: I don’t know a lot about American schools and I’ve given up trying to figure it out so Hannah is doing Australian school just starting it in September

“Have you got everything?” She asks.

Hannah nods.

“Okay, then have a good day, Banana, I’ll see you this afternoon.” She gives her a hug.

“Bye.” She hugs her back. “Bye, Ebbi.” She waves before taking hold of Ethan’s hand.

“Looks like we’re going now.” He says. This was about the most eager he’d ever seen Hannah on the first day of school. “I’ll see you two tonight.” He gives Lex a quick kiss on the lips and then kisses the top of Ebony’s head.

“Bye babe.” Lex says as they leave.

They went down to the parking lot, getting into his car and heading off to the school.

“Ready for your last year of primary school, Split?” He asks as they drive up to the school.

She doesn’t say anything and just shrugs.

“Do you want me to walk you in, or are you worried I’d cramp your style too much?” He pokes at her side.

She smiles and laughs at him, batting his hand away. “You’re a cool dad, you can come.”

“Why thank you, miss Banana.”

They both get out of the car and walk towards the school gates. She takes hold of his hand and doesn’t let go until she spots Cody standing outside of their new classroom. She starts to run over to him, though stops hallway, coming back to Ethan.

“Bye dad.” She says giving him a hug.

“Bye Banana, have a good day.”

She smiles and runs back over to Cody, the two of them starting to talk about something.

Once he was sure that Hannah would be alright, he turns and makes his way back to the car. He spots Sandra at the school gates as he approaches them. He didn’t know her as well as Lex did, though he had spoken to her a few times when picking Hannah up from a playdate.

“Hey Sandra.” He says.

“Hi Ethan, how are you?”

“Yeah, not bad. How about you?”

“I’m good, thanks.” She says.

“That’s good.” He said. “Hey, I was wondering if I could ask you a favour?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Well, mine and Lex’s anniversary is coming up, and I was wondering if you’d be able to watch the girls for a few hours on Saturday night so I could take her out for dinner.” He asked. He and Lex hadn’t been out on a proper date with just the two of them since before they moved to California. They hadn’t had much opportunity for them, especially since they couldn’t leave Hannah and Ebony home alone. Even dates back in Hatchetfield had been rare, for the same reason. He really wanted to do something special for Lex, and he wanted to do it before the baby was born, so their anniversary was the perfect opportunity.

“Of course, I can watch them.” Sandra said. “Just send me the details.”

“Thank you so much.” He said. “Oh, and don’t say anything to Lex, I’m trying to have it be as much of a surprise as possible.”

“My lips are sealed.”

* * *

Lex waited for Hannah at the school gates. She hadn’t been called to pick her up early; a first for the first day of school. She still had no idea if she’d had a good day or not though.

The bell had rung a few minutes ago and kids were still coming out of various classrooms. She soon spots Hannah emerge from one, Cody next to her. He helps her all the way over to Lex. That’s when she notices the tears in Hannah’s eyes.

“What happened?” She asked drawing Hannah into her arms.

“Some boys in the other class were making fun of her.” Cody says, putting Hannah’s bag down on the ground next to the stroller. “They were laughing at her because her dad walked her into school.” 

Oh. “Thanks for taking care of her, Cody.” Lex says, still holding onto Hannah.

“That’s okay, it’s what friends do.” He gives her a few pats on the back. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Hannah.” He gives her a few more pats for good measure before heading off in search of his mum.

“You okay, Banana?” She asks.

She just shrugs.

“’Nana sad.” Ebony says, clambering out of the stroller and coming over to them. She squeezes herself between Lex and Hannah so she could give her a hug.

“Thanks, Ebbi.” She says quietly, moving to hug her instead of Lex.

“Do you wanna head home?” She asks, running a hand over Hannah’s hair.

She nods, picking up Ebony and putting her back in the stroller before returning to Lex’s side. “Can you carry my like dad does?” She asks shyly.

“Hannah.” She says with a slight sigh.

“Please?”

She knew that Hannah just wanted to feel the safety and security that being carried gave her. And Lex wanted to give that to her, but she couldn’t. “I’m sorry, Banana, but you’re too big for me to carry now.”

“Please?” She grabs onto Lex’s arm, tugging on it. “Please, mum.”

“I want to, Banana, but you’re just too big for me.” It had been a struggle for her to carry Hannah for a few years now. She was just growing so much, and now that Lex was pregnant there was no way she’d be able to carry her.

She started to try and climb her but was stopped.

“No, Hannah.” She took her hands off of her and held them in her own.

She glared at her, ripping her hands away and storming over to the stroller. She started pushing it in the direction of the apartment.

Lex followed, grabbing Hannah’s school bag while feeling tears beginning to form behind her eyes. She wouldn’t let them fall though, that wouldn’t help anything. Hannah was upset with her and she didn’t know how to change that. She couldn’t give Hannah the one thing that she wanted. 

There wasn’t really anything that she could do. When Hannah was mad at someone, she wouldn’t listen to them and wouldn’t let them touch her. Lex hoped that she wouldn’t be upset for too long. She was typically a happy kid it wasn’t often she got mad.

She follows Hannah and Ebony all the way back to the apartment. She stuck as close to them as she could without eliciting a glare from Hannah. She had been worried that she might try and run off, but she wasn’t overwhelmed, just upset.

As soon as she got inside, Hannah stormed straight into her room, slamming the door shut behind her. Lex heard her let out a frustrated scream before several thumps.

“Hannah?” She says carefully, opening the door a few inches to see her lying face down on her bed, arms and legs flailing. The thumping had come from her hitting the wall and her bedding. “Hey, calm down, Banana.” She goes over to her.

“Go away!”

“Sit up, Hannah, you need to breathe.” She was worried that she was about to have a meltdown. She tried to grab hold of one of her arms but failed.

Hannah crawled to the head of her bed, hiding herself beneath her pillows. “Go away, please.” From the way she spoke it didn’t seem like she was having a meltdown.

Lex didn’t want to go anywhere. Hannah needed someone to help her calm down, and she didn’t Ebony would be able to.

“I’m not going away, Banana.” She said as calmly and gently as she could.

“Wanna be alone.” She mumbled. “Please.” She added after a moment’s pause. Her voice sounded so sad.

“Hannah.”

“Go away please.” A hand emerged from beneath her pillows and pushed Lex in the direction of the door.

Lex didn’t know what to do. Hannah wanted to be left alone, she’d made that very clear. But Lex didn’t think that it was a good idea for her to be alone, and she didn’t know what the right thing was to do. She knew that Hannah was older now and had gotten better at sorting out things on her own. She still wasn’t great at it and still often required help, but she was getting better.

“Hannah, I want to help you. I love you and I want you to feel better.” She took a hold of the hand that had been pushing her, giving it a gentle squeeze.

“Don’t want help.” She took her hand away from Lex’s and started pushing her again.

She moves so that she is crouched by Hannah’s head. “What’s making you so upset? Talk to me. I’m here to help you.”

“No!” She throws a pillow right at Lex’s face. “Go away!”

She stands up, surprised by Hannah yelling, and by the pillow to the face. It was getting harder to stop herself from crying.

“Mummy!” Ebony called from the living room.

She sighs, taking a deep breath before speaking. “I’m going to go see what Ebbi needs, then I’m going to come back, okay?”

Hannah doesn’t say anything.

She gets up and leaves the bedroom. As soon as she’s out she hears Hannah get up and close the door followed by the sound of something sliding across the floor.

Lex finds Ebony half hanging out of the stroller, her foot having somehow gotten stuck in one of the straps.

“Stuck mummy.” She says, jiggling her leg to try and get free.

“You are a bit stuck, aren’t you?” She says. “Stay still.”

Ebony stops moving her leg and Lex is able to easily free her foot. She stands up, jumping up and down a few times to make sure her leg is working properly before giving Lex a hug.

“Thank you.” She says.

“No worries, Ebbi.” She smiles down at her, giving her a quick hug in return before going back over to the girls’ bedroom. She goes to open the door but finds she can’t. Something heavy was in  
front of the door, stopping her from getting it open. “Hannah, open the door please.” She says.

“Go away.”

“Open the door.” She pushes against it, but it wouldn’t budge.

Behind her the front door opened as Ethan came home.

“Hey babe, what’s going on?” He asked, spotting her pushing against the door. 

Ebony ran over to him and he scooped her up.

“Hannah’s locked herself in there.” She says. She was becoming rather stressed. She needed to make sure that Hannah was okay, and she couldn’t do that on the outside of the room. 

“What happened?” He asks, drawing Lex away from the door.

“She was upset because some kids were teasing her at school, and then she got mad because I couldn’t carry her home.” She explained hurriedly, wanting to get back to pushing the door.

He hands Ebony to her and goes over to the bedroom door, knocking on it. “Hey Banana, it’s me. Can I come in?” He asks.

There were a few moments of silence before things were dragged away from the door. She opened it a crack, looking to make sure it was actually Ethan. She studied him for a moment before opening the door wider, admitting him entrance.

He turns to Lex, giving her hand a quick squeeze. “I’ll talk to her, don’t worry.” He steps inside, shutting the door gently behind him. He goes and sits down next to Hannah who had seated herself on her bed. He notes that she had used her bedside table and Ebony’s cot to block the door. “Do you wanna tell me what’s wrong?”

“I’m too big.” She mutters, grabbing his hand and playing with his fingers.

“What does that mean, Banana?”

“I grew too much. Mum can’t pick me up anymore. I don’t want to be big.” She didn’t want to grow up. That was scary. The kids at school had teased her for years about being a baby because she didn’t know how to act grown up. If she couldn’t act her age like everyone else, what was she going to do when she was actually an adult? She wanted to stay little forever. She was angry with herself for having gotten so big. She began hitting her thigh.

“Hey, don’t do that.” Ethan said gently taking hold of her hand. “Why don’t you want to be big?”

“Scary.”

“Yeah, growing up can be a bit scary, but everyone feels that way. You’re not the only one. Can I tell you something?”

She nods.

“You may not realise it, but I get scared a lot.” He said.

“Really?” She tilts her head to the side.

“Yeah. I get scared about being a good enough dad for you and Ebbi. I get scared about all the grownup decisions like where to work and where to live and whether or not I can afford things. And I’m scared of snakes.” He wraps and arm around her. “It’s okay to be scared. We all get scared sometimes. But whenever you feel scared, we’re here to help you not feel as scared anymore.”

She nods, climbing onto his lap and giving him a hug.

“You feeling better?”

She nods again.

“Good.” He hugs her back, standing up so that he’s now carrying her. “Now, you scared mum by locking yourself in here. Do you think you can say sorry?”

“Didn’t mean to.”

“I know you didn’t. You were upset. But you should still say sorry, okay?”

“Okay.” She holds onto him tightly as he walks them out of the room.


	3. Chapter 53

Ethan had wanted the entire date to be a surprise, but that plan hadn’t exactly worked out. He needed to tell Lex about it to some extent so that she’d dress appropriately and allow Ebony to be in the care of Sandra for a few hours. 

That was all Lex was meant to know and was only meant to find out the day of. When she found out still went relatively to plan, she just ended up knowing everything about his plans.

“We don’t need to go out somewhere, Ethan.” She said as he drove them towards their dinner destination. “It’s too much money.”

“You’re worth every penny, babe.” He says.

“Well, you should be saving those pennies. We’ve got a baby coming, we need every cent.” She says.

He takes hold of her hand. “I’ve putting money aside for this for a while. And it’s not like we’re living paycheque to paycheque anymore. Taking you out for a special night is not going to break the bank.” He kisses the back of her hand. “When was the last time we got to go out together. Just the two of us?”

“Not since Hatchetfield.” She says.

“Exactly. We’ve hardly eaten out since then either. So, let’s treat ourselves a little.” He gives her hand a squeeze.

She sighs, smiling softly. “Alright then.” She leans into him as much as she can while he’s driving and with the centre console between them. “Since you’ve already organised all of this, I guess we can go out.”

“Glad to see you’re onboard.” He said with a smile. “Though, we’d still be going out even if you weren’t. I worked hard to organise this, and I know you’re going to have a good time.” He parked the car outside of the restaurant. He’d chosen one that wasn’t a swanky five-star place, though it wasn’t a cheap chain restaurant either; it was somewhere in the middle. One day he’d take her out to the fanciest place he could find, but today wasn’t that day.

“This isn’t going to be too expensive, is it?” She asked as they got out of the car.

“No.” He said, wrapping an arm around her waist. “And stop worrying about money. I’ve got this covered.”

“I know.” She leans into him.

They go inside and take their seats.

“It’s weird being out without the girls.” She says after they’ve ordered their food.

“Yeah.” He nods. “You missing them?”

“Yeah.” She sighs. “But it is kinda nice to go out just the two of us.” She takes hold of his hands from across the table.

“Two and a half of us.” He corrects, grinning over at her and giving her hand a squeeze.

She rolls her eyes, but grins back at him.

* * *

After dinner they still had a bit of time before they needed to pick up the girls, so they decided to go for a walk. They walked, arms wrapped around each other, through the park. The sun had set, but there were lights along the pathway showing the way. It gave the park both an eerie and magical feel. Hannah would’ve loved to come and explore the park in the dark. They weren’t likely to come here at night with her, though, as they couldn’t risk losing sight of her.

There wasn’t really anyone else there, so they got to enjoy the peace and quiet.

“Have you had a good night, babe?” Ethan asks as they walk along one of the illuminated pathways.

“A great night.” She replies, leaning upwards to kiss his cheek. The night hadn’t been anything big and extravagant. It was simple, but well thought out. She probably wouldn’t have had such a good time if it was one of those crazy big dates like on TV. She enjoyed the simple things, and she loved getting to spend time with Ethan. So, all in all it racked up to be a perfect night.

“I’m glad.” He stops walking for a moment so he could kiss her lips.

She smiles and kisses him back. “Thank you for organising all this and making me come along. I really did have a good time.” She wraps her arms around his shoulders. “I love you.”

“You’re welcome. And I love you too.” He kisses her again, this one lasting longer than the first. His hands go to her waist, pulling her closer to him. She leaned further into him as they continued the kiss.

They only broke apart when the alarm on Lex’s phone reminding them to go collect the girls went off. They still remained wrapped in each other arms, gazing into the other’s eyes.

Lex turns the alarm off. “Time to go pick up the girls.” She says softly, giving him a quick kiss.

He smiles and takes her hand as they walk back to the car. Part of him was a little sad that the night was coming to a close, but he was definitely ready to get the girls back, and he knew Lex was too.

They don’t talk much on the drive over to Sandra’s place. They just enjoy each other’s company and continue to hold onto each other’s hands. 

“Hey, you guys have a good night?” Sandra asks as she opens the door to them.

“Yep.” Lex answers, smiling up at Ethan. “How were the girls?”

“They were fine. Though Ebony definitely started to miss you guys.”

“Where are they?”

“Hannah’s in the lounge watching TV with Cody.” She says, gesturing in the direction of the living room. “And Ebony is asleep on his bed.”

“I’ll go grab Hannah.” Ethan says, giving Lex’s hand a squeeze. “You wanna get Ebbi?”

She nods heading off towards Cody’s bedroom as Ethan goes into the lounge room.

She finds Ebony curled up on the bed. She goes over quietly and picks her up, careful in trying not to wake her. 

She stirs a little, enough to mumble something and grab onto Lex’s hair before going back to sleep.

Lex smiles and kisses the top of her head before going out into the hallway.

“Ready to go?” She says when she spots Hannah and Ethan standing by the door.

Hannah nods sleepily, holding onto him.

“Thanks again, Sandra.” He says.

“No worries.” She replies. “I’ll see you guys later.”

They head out to the car and drive back to the apartment.

“Did you have fun playing with Cody tonight, Banana?” Lex asks. When she doesn’t get a reply she turns in her seat to see that Hannah had fallen asleep.

When they got back home, she and Ethan carried the girls inside and tucked them into bed before heading to bed themselves.

“Thanks again for tonight.” She says, curling into him.

“Anytime, babe.” He gives her a soft kiss, running a hand up and down her side. “Though I don’t think we’d be able to pull this off again until sometime after the baby’s born.”

“I’d probably call you out for spending too much money anyway.” She smiles. 

She was joking but he knew that she’d definitely tell him off he took her out on a date anytime relatively soon.

“We gotta save up for the baby now.” She says wistfully.

“No stressing about money.” He says, pulling her a little closer to him.

“You always say that.” She mumbles, one of her arms wrapping itself around his waist.

“Yeah, and you never listen.” He gives her a squeeze. “If you stopped stressing, I wouldn’t have to tell you not to so often.”

“I can’t control what I worry about.”

“Yeah, but you should at least try. Let me do all the worrying.”

“You know that’s never going to happen.” She kisses his cheek. She had always been the type of person to stress about anything. 

“I know.” He kisses her hair before running his fingers through it.

She closes her eyes, letting out a content sigh as she rests her head on his shoulder, a small smile stretching across her lips. He leans down and kisses her.

Her smile widens, though she keeps her eyes shut.

He continues to run his fingers through her hair and down her back. “You have no idea how much I love you.” He whispered, kissing the top of her head, thinking that she’d fallen asleep.

“I think I have a pretty good idea.” She mumbled sleepily.

“Sorry, I thought you were asleep.”

She props herself up on her elbow so she can get a better look at him. “Why do you think I don’t know how much you love me?”

He shrugs. “I just don’t think I’m very good at showing it.”

She brushes a few loose strands of hair away from his face, her hand coming to rest on his cheek. “You don’t have to do anything for me to know. Because I know.”

He brings his hand up to join hers on his cheek. “I should do more though. I love you and the girls more than anything.”

“I know.” She presses her forehead against his.

“But…”

“Trust me.” She moves their hands from his cheek down to her stomach. “I know.” She kisses him softly. “I love you and our family more than anything too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter than normal. I don't know, for some reason it was hard to write even though I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to happen. Maybe it's because I've never been on a date before?
> 
> Also there may not be any more updates for this week because I'm helping my sister with her musical so I won't have a ton of free time.


	4. Chapter 54

Lex hadn’t had the best start to her day. She’d woken up in the early hours of the morning with a killer headache and had to run to the bathroom twice to throw up. She was tired and grumpy and was just looking forward to being able to go to sleep.

The day itself hadn’t been too bad. Ebony had gotten pretty good at keeping herself occupied while Lex worked. However, throughout the day her headache got worse, and was particularly painful when picking Hannah up from school.

Hannah had decided it was the sort of day where she’d just talk endlessly.

“Mum?”

“Yes?”

“Can we get a puppy?” She asked, happily skipping along the pavement.

“No.” Lex replied.

“What about a kitty?”

“Still no.”

“A bunny?”

“No.”

“A bird?”

“No.”

“How about a fish?” She grabbed a hold of Lex’s arm, pleading for a pet.

“No, Hannah.”

“Why?”

“We’re not allowed pets in the apartment.” They also couldn’t really afford a pet, though she decided not to tell Hannah that. Her mindset was that now they weren’t in Hatchetfield they had money. Which was, in a way, true. They did have more money than they did before, but they didn’t have enough to spare for pets.

“Why?” She asked, leaning sideways into Lex.

“The landlord didn’t want there to be any pets.”

“When we move will we be allowed to have one?”

They had talked with Hannah about moving, though she still didn’t know about the baby. Lex and Ethan had started looking for a new place, but they didn’t know if it would be easier to move with a newborn or with a however-many-months pregnant Lex.

“Probably not, Banana.”

“Please? I’m almost twelve, I can do all the taking care of it. And you said there’d be more room at the new apartment. Extra room for a pet.”

“Sorry, Hannah, but we’re not getting a pet.”

“Please?” She pressed her head into Lex’s side as she unlocked the door to the apartment. “I can show you I’m old enough for one.” She takes the stroller from Lex and pushes it inside. She takes Ebony out before folding it up and resting it against the wall where it was kept. She then sits down in front of her and takes off her shoes. “C’mon, Ebbi, let’s get a snack,”

She stands up and pulls Ebony to her feet before taking her hand and guiding her into the kitchen. She opens up and fridge, looking for something to eat. Dissatisfied, she closes it before moving over to the pantry. She still didn’t see anything that she particularly wanted. She turned and spotted several avocados ripening by the windowsill.

Hannah lets go of Ebony’s hand and runs over to the window. She gives each avocado a careful squeeze before selecting one. She places it on the bench, pulling out a chopping board and knife. Rather messily, she cuts the avocado in half.

She gives Ebony the half without the pit and a spoon. 

Ebony sits herself down in the middle of the kitchen floor and begins eating, getting bits of avocado all over her face.

Hannah then makes an attempt to get the pit out of her half. She tries to pry it out with the tip of the knife, though is unsuccessful. She tries hitting it, trying to flick it out. The pit not budging causes her to grow increasingly frustrated, her movements becoming faster and less precise.

“Woah.” Lex comes over and grabs hold of Hannah’s hand that’s holding the knife. “Let go. I’ll get it out for you, okay?”

“No. I can do it.” She tries to wriggle her hand away from Lex’s grip.

“Hannah, you’re too frustrated. You can’t use sharp things when you’re upset.”

“But…”

“No buts, I don’t want you to accidentally hurt yourself, okay?”

“Okay.” She mumbles, allowing Lex to take the knife from her.

Lex imbeds the knife into the avocado pit and removes it while Hannah leans into her. She hands her the now pit-free half of the avocado.

“Could’ve done it.” She mutters.

“I know, but not when you’re frustrated.” She kisses the top of Hannah’s head. “Do you have any homework you need to do?”

She nods.

“Okay, finish your avocado and then get started. Let me know if you need any help.”

She nods again and wonders off into her room.

“Finished!” Ebony says from her spot on the floor, holding out her eaten half of the avocado. She’d left a fair bit along the skin.

Lex took it and the spoon from her scraping around the edges to get the last bit of avocado. “Do you want the rest?” She asks, holding the spoon out to her.

Ebony stands up and wraps her hand around Lex’s and the spoon, guiding it into her mouth. “Finished.” She said again after licking the spoon clean. She opens her mouth, showing Lex that it was empty.

“Good job.” She runs a hand through Ebony’s hair before picking her up. “Now let’s get you cleaned up.” She grabs a face cloth and wets it, wiping the mushed avocado off of her face.

When she’s finished, Ebony bounces up and down in her arms a few times before giving her a hug. She stays that way until she hears the front door open and close, signalling Ethan’s arrival.

She wriggles her way down to the floor and runs over to him. “Hi daddy.” She says, wrapping her arms around one of his legs.

“Hi Ebbi.” He says, ruffling her hair. “Did you have a good day?”

She smiles up at him, bouncing a little. “Had a ‘cado.”

“You had an avocado? Aren’t you lucky?” He picks her up, sitting her on his hip.

She nods.

He sees Hannah sneaks out of her room. She’s clutching onto one of her fingers, tears glistening in her eyes. She dashes into the bathroom and starts opening and closing cupboards.

“Is Hannah okay?” He asks Lex, who hadn’t seen Hannah go into the bathroom.

“Yeah, I think so. She’s just doing homework in her room.” She comes over and gives him a quick kiss. “Why do you ask?”

“I just saw her sneak past, and she didn’t look entirely okay.”

Lex looked concerned and turned in the direction of the bathroom. The two of them walked over to Hannah, Ethan still carrying Ebony. 

Hannah is sitting on the floor in front of the cupboard below the bathroom sink. One hand clutching the other as she used her feet to try and find something.

“What are you doing, Hannah?” Lex asks.

She turns, horrified at having been caught. She curls in on herself, beginning to rock. “No.” She mutters, starting to say it over and over as a tear trickles down her cheek.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” She crouches in front of her, holding out a hand.

“No.” She wriggles away from Lex, clambering to her feet. Not looking where she was going, she runs for the door, only to run straight into Ethan.

“It’s okay, you can tell us.” He says softly.

“Don’t wanna get in trouble.” She mutters.

“You’re not in trouble.” He rubs her back.

Slowly she lets go of the hand she’d been clutching and holds it up for him to see.

He takes hold of it. “You cut your finger?” He says noticing that the tip of one of her fingers was bleeding. 

She nods, glancing back at Lex before pressing herself further into Ethan.

“Were you using your scissors while you were frustrated?” Lex asks, coming over and placing her hands gently on Hannah’s shoulders.

She nods slowly. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to.”

“That’s okay. Let’s put a band aid on that finger.” Lex takes her hand and walks her over to the sink. She carefully rinses the cut under the tap before fishing a band aid out of a drawer and wrapping it around Hannah’s finger.

“Was looking in the wrong spot.” She says when she sees Lex getting out the band aid. 

“They’ve always lived in that drawer, Banana.”

“Didn’t see them. Was trying to fix it myself.” She says holding up her finger. She pauses for a moment. “Not in trouble, am I?”

“No. I think you’ve learned your lesson.” Lex says, wiping a tear away from Hannah’s cheek.

She nods, before turning back to Ethan. “Dad?

“Yeah.” He says hitching Ebony up higher on his hip.

“Can I get a puppy?”

* * *

“I think it’s time we tell the girls.” Lex said, peering in the mirror, trying to see if she had started showing yet. “I know Hannah will be excited.”

“And Ebbi will have no idea what’s going on.” Ethan said coming over to her and kissing her cheek.

“She’ll figure it out and telling her will help.”

“Well, are you sure you don’t want to wait a little longer until you actually start to show?” He runs his hand over her stomach.

“I want us to tell Hannah before she figures it out herself.”

“She’s not going to figure it out.”

“She’s really smart, Ethan. And observant. She could put all the pieces together. And I’d feel bad if she knew before we told her.” She sighs, leaning into him.

“Don’t worry about that, babe.” He gives her a soft kiss. “How about we tell them after your next doctor’s appointment?”

“Yeah, okay.” She nods, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

He kisses her again, hands going to her waist.

“Mummy.” Ebony’s voice says from the other side of the closed door.

They break apart from their kiss and Lex goes over and opens the door. 

“What are you doing up?” She asks, picking up an upset looking Ebony.

She doesn’t say anything but hugs her tightly, sniffling.

“Did you have a bad dream?” She asks, rubbing Ebony’s back, walking over and sitting down on the bed.

She nods.

Lex hold her tight, kissing the top of her head as Ethan comes over and sits besides them. She begins to rock her gently until Ebony falls back asleep, though doesn’t move to return her to her bed.

“And you thought you wouldn’t be a good mother.” He says softly, kissing Lex’s cheek and the top of Ebony’s head.

“I still don’t think I’m that great.” She says, running her hand through Ebony’s hair.

“You’re the best. Our kids are lucky to have you.”

“They’re lucky to have you too.” She kisses him softly. “You’re an amazing dad.”

“I wouldn’t know how to be a parent if it weren’t for you.”

“What do you mean?” She shifts so that she’s now resting against the headboard.

“Just seeing how you were with Hannah all those years ago. I saw that and thought ‘that’s how you parent a kid’. You made sure that she was safe and fed and happy and taken care of. I’ve been trying to follow your example. I’m not sure how well I’m doing. But I’m trying. Trying to do as good a job as you’ve been doing since you were ten.” He says, taking hold of her hand.

She smiles at him. “Well, from what I see, you’re doing a really good job.” 

“Compliments from the master.” He says, giving her a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A new chapter! Hurray! 
> 
> Sorry it took so long, last week was pretty busy, and this week is gonna be busy as well. So, who knows when there's gonna be a new chapter.


	5. Chapter 55

She opened the door to their bedroom, going inside, Ebony right behind her. She held a finger up to her lips, telling Ebony to be quiet. The two of them snuck over to the bed where Lex and Ethan were sleeping. 

Hannah carefully climbed up onto the foot of the bed, lifting Ebony up next to her. “Ready?” She whispers. “Set. Go!” She yells the last word and together the two girls launched themselves on top of Lex and Ethan.

“What the?” He says, jolting awake. He tries to sit up but find his effort impeded by the girls that were half on top of him.

They start to laugh at his reaction to being woken up so suddenly.

“What are you two up to?” Lex groans, shifting herself to try and become more comfortable.

“Waking you up.” Hannah answers, giving her a brief hug before sitting up.

“Up time, mummy.” Ebony pulls on her arms, forcing her into a sitting position. She plonks herself down on Lex’s lap, bouncing up and down.

Ethan gives her a look, silently asking if she was okay. The girls jumping on top of her couldn’t have been the most pleasant of experiences and he wanted to make sure that they hadn’t accidentally hurt the baby. 

She gives him a small smile and squeezes his hand, reassuring him that she was fine. 

“You too, daddy.” Ebony said, leaving Lex’s lap and crawling over to Ethan. She wriggles her way behind him and begins to push his back.

“I’m up.” He says, pulling her out from behind him and placing her on his lap.

She gets out of his lap, standing with one foot on each of his thighs, holding onto his shoulders for balance. “’Nana says daddy breakfast.”

“Is that so?”

“Uh-huh.” She nods pressing her head into his.

“Yeah. We get special dad pancakes today. I say so.” Hannah said bouncing up and down on the bed.

“And why do you say so?”

“You know why.” She says. “Or did you forget?” She tilts her head to the side, studying him.

“Of course, I didn’t forget.” What did he forget? He frantically looks to Lex, hoping she could enlighten him.

She rolls her eyes at him, mouthing ‘birthday’.

It was Hannah’s birthday? How could he have forgotten that? Maybe he could blame the unconventional way in which he was woken up. Though that should’ve clued him in. Hannah always came and woke them up on any day in which she got presents.

“It’s your birthday.” He says.

“Uh-huh, so pancakes please.” She climbs off of the bed and begins pulling on his hand.

He holds onto Ebony and allows Hannah to pull him to his feet. “You two to the kitchen I’ll be there in a second.” He says, placing Ebony down on the ground, the two of them running out of the room. He turns back to the bed seeing Lex about to get up herself. He grabs hold of her arm, gently pulling her back down. “Stay here and get some more rest. I’ll distract them.”

“I’m fine. I’m not tired or anything.” She said, sitting back up.

“Yes, you are.” He sits down next to her, placing his hands on her shoulders and lightly pushes her back into a lying down position.

“I’m not.” She says, her sentence punctuated with a yawn.

He raises and eyebrow at her. “Really? How much sleep did you get last night?”

“Not a lot.” She says reluctantly. “I just couldn’t sleep, but it’s fine, really.” She makes to sit up once more, but he stops her.

“You could’ve woken me. I could’ve kept you company.”

She shakes her head. “There’s no point us both being tired. I’m tired all the time now anyway, so it’s not like lack of sleep makes much of a difference.”

“Regardless, you’re staying in bed sleeping for a little longer. I’ll come get you when breakfast is ready.”

She harrumphs. “Fine. But you better not let me sleep too long, I don’t want to miss Hannah’s birthday.”

“You won’t be missing anything.” He kisses her forehead. “Night, babe. Sweet dreams.”

“Dad!” Hannah called for him from the other room.

“I’m coming.” He said, giving Lex a little wave as he left the room and walked over into the kitchen. “Ready for pancake making?”

Hannah nods eagerly, having already gotten some of the ingredients out. “Can I cook them this time?”

“If you follow my instructions.”

“I will.” She nods enthusiastically.

“Alright then, let’s get cooking.”

* * *

Hannah and Ebony were sitting in the middle of the living room floor happily playing together. Whenever they played together, Hannah always seemed to dictate the game. She was always the one in charge of the fun. Ebony didn’t seem to mind and would happily go along with whatever Hannah decided.

As part of her desires to get a pet, she’d started playing a game with Ebony that she’d dubbed ‘fetch’. The game consisted of Hannah finding random small objects with which she’d either hide or throw, depending on the item, and would have Ebony fetch them. 

“Fetch, Ebbi!” She instructed.

“Woof.” She replied, crawling off looking for the object that had been hidden for her.

Ethan walks past them, seemingly searching for something. He sees the girls and figures out what game they were playing.

“Hey, Banana.” He said, leaning over the back of the couch. “You haven’t seen my phone, have you?”

She shrugs. “I dunno.” She said, displaying a rather dodgy poker-face.

It was then that Ebony crawled back over to her, Ethan’s phone in one hand. 

“Woof.” She said again, passing the phone over to Hannah.

“You sure you haven’t seen my phone?” He raises an eyebrow at her as she hurriedly hides the device behind her back.

“I’m sure.” She says smiling as innocently as she could manage.

“Right.” He eyes her suspiciously. “Hey Ebbi, have you seen my phone?”

She nods. “’Nana has it.” She says pointing at where Hannah is holding the phone.

“Ebbi!”

“The jigs up, Banana.” He says, holding his hand out and walking around to her side of the couch. “Can I have it back now, please?”

She goes to give it back to him but hesitates. “Can I play games on it?”

“No, sorry.”

She grumbles a little but hands the phone over to him anyway.

“Thanks, Split.” He leans in close and speaks softly into her ear. “You know, if mum doesn’t need it for work stuff you could probably play some games on my laptop later.”

Her face lit up. “Really?”

“It’s just a maybe right now, we’ll have to wait and see. But I reckon you’ll be able to.”

“Yay!” She gives him a hug before turning back to Ebony. “Hear that, Ebbi? We might get to play on the computer.”

She smiled and mirrored Hannah’s excitement, even though she wasn’t going to be the one playing.

Ethan leaves the girls to their games and wanders into his and Lex’s room.

“You ready to tell them?” He asks her as he enters the room.

“Yep.” She says, getting up off of the bed and coming over to him.

He wraps and arm around her waist and kisses her cheek.

She leans into him, one of her hands running over her stomach. She had started showing, though it wasn’t that obvious yet.

Together they walk out to the girls and sit themselves down on the couch.

“Can you two come and sit with us for a second, please?” Lex asks, beckoning the girls over. “We want to talk to you.”

“Is it about the computer?” Hannah asks, sitting on the couch next to her and pulling Ebony up onto her lap.

“No, it’s not.” Ethan says.

Lex gives him a look, wondering what he’s told her about the computer.

“Are we getting a puppy?” She tries again to guess at the topic of the conversation.

“No, I told you we can’t get a pet.”

“Why not?”

She sighs. “I already told you why.” She pauses for a brief second. “Do you want to know what we’re gonna talk to you about, or not?”

“Wanna know. Right, Ebbi?”

“Uh-huh.” Ebony says nodding along. She had a habit of just simply agreeing wither everything that Hannah said.

“Wanna do the honours, babe?” Lex asks turning to look at him.

“I thought you wanted to be the one to tell them.” He says with a shrug.

“Well, I did the last two, you can have this one if you want.”

“Okay.” He gives her a kiss.

“Tell us!” Hannah says, getting rather impatient.

“Well.” He begins. “In a few months our family is gonna get a bit bigger.” He gives Lex’s hand a quick squeeze. “Because we’re gonna have a baby.”

“A new baby!” Hannah’s face lights up as she begins bouncing in her seat, Ebony still on her lap, slightly confused by the sudden excitement. She gives Lex a big hug, Ebony joining too. “Hello baby.” She says, leaning in close to Lex’s stomach. “Say hello to the baby, Ebbi.” She instructs sitting back.

Ebony sits there confused. “Where’s baby?”

Hannah points.

“The baby’s in my tummy.” Lex says, taking Ebony’s hands and holding them to her stomach.

“Why?” She asks.

“Because it needs to grow more. Once it’s big enough the baby will come out and you’ll get to meet him or her.” She explains.

“And when the baby’s born you’ll get to be a big sister.” Ethan adds.

“Like ‘Nana?”

“Yeah.” Hannah grins, giving Ebony a big hug. “Like me.”

* * *

“Mummy.”

Lex was awoken sometime in the dead of night to Ebony leaning over her, poking her shoulder.

“Yes?”

“I missed you.” She curls herself into Lex.

“I missed you too.” She returns Ebony’s embrace, kissing the top of her head. “Let’s go back to sleep now, okay?”

“Okay.”

They were cuddled together in silence for several moments. Lex was sure that Ebony had fallen back asleep and was about to do the same herself when she spoke.

“Mummy.”

“Yes?”

“I’m thirsty.”

She sighs and sits up. “Let’s get you some water, and then we’re going back to sleep.” She gets out of bed, doing her best not to wake Ethan, though knows it’s highly likely that Ebony would accidently do so.

She sits up as Lex gets up, reaching her arms up towards her.

Lex picks her up, sitting her on her hip and walked out into the kitchen. She grabs a cup and fills it with water, handing it to Ebony, who drinks it. “Better?” She asks.

Ebony nods.

“Okay, back to bed. Do you want to go back to your own bed?”

She shakes her head and hugs onto Lex’s shoulders.

She goes back into hers and Ethan’s bedroom, lying back down with Ebony still wrapped around her. “Night Ebbi.” She kisses the top of her head. “I love you.”

“Love you.” She mumbles as she lets out a yawn and snuggles into Lex as much as she can. “Mummy.” She says again after several minutes of silence.

“Yes?” Lex replies hoping that whatever it was that Ebony was after that it could be dealt with quickly so she could go back to sleep.

“Wanna say hi to daddy.”

“He’s asleep right now. You can say hi in the morning.”

“Wanna say hi now.”

“Right now it’s sleep time, Ebbi. You can say hi later.” She runs a hand over Ebony’s hair. Much as Lex would like to have Ethan be the one stuck awake, she wasn’t that mean.

“But…”

“No buts. It’s time for sleeping.” She closes her eyes and tries to go back to sleep. She’s half drifted off when Ebony wriggles away from her.

“Hi daddy.” Ebony says having made her way over to Ethan’s side of the bed and is now poking him the same way she’d poked Lex earlier.

“Let him sleep, Ebbi.” She says trying to pull Ebony away from him, though she was too late.

He yawns opening his eyes. “Hey kiddo, what are you doing up?”

“Missed you.” She gives him a hug.

“Missed you too.” He gives her a squeeze, rolling over so that he’s no longer on his back and is now facing Lex. He pulls her closer and she leans into him.

“Will you go back to sleep now?” She asks, addressing Ebony.

“I think she’s already asleep, babe.” He says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait for uploading. I had my dance concert and then I went away for the weekend and didn't bring my laptop.


	6. Chapter 56

Ethan flopped down in bed next to her, letting out a sigh.

“You okay?” She asks.

“Yeah fine, just a long day, you know?”

She nods. “There’s something else though, isn’t there?” She asks shuffling closer to him.

He turns to face her, brushing the hair out of her face. “It’s nothing that you need to worry about.”

She gives him a look. “But it’s clearly something that’s bothering you. You can tell me, babe.” She takes hold of his hand.

He sighs again, deciding whether or not to tell her. He decides to tell her, knowing that she wasn’t going to let the topic drop. “My dad keeps texting me.” He says. “He keeps asking me if I’ve ‘come to my senses yet’.”

Lex gives his hand a squeeze. “Do you ever say anything back to him?”

He shrugs. “Sometimes. I mostly just try to ignore him. He’s just relentless. Today he started saying that if I don’t go back to Hatchetfield soon he’s gonna come out here and make sure I never see you or the girls again.”

“He can’t actually do that though; he doesn’t know where exactly we are.”

“Well, we thought that about your mum, yet she still found us.” He lets out a breath. “I just wish he could see that you’re not a bad person and see that I love you.”

“Me too, babe.” She kisses his cheek.

It was then that Ebony came into the room. She’d been doing this more and more often. She’d wake up during the night and would go straight to her parents, be it for a drink of water or a cuddle.

“Why are you awake, Ebbi?” Ethan asked as he helped her clamber up onto the bed.

She doesn’t answer but looks at him as if she’s studying him. “Daddy scared?” She says tilting her head to the side.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” He asks as she seat herself on his lap.

“Your colour.” She says, pointing to the air around his mouth.

“What colour?”

She tilts her head to the other side. “Don’t you see it?”

“What are you doing up, Ebbi?” Lex asks, deciding to change the subject.

“Missed you.” She crawled over to Lex and curled into her side.

“I’m right here, so you can go back to sleep, okay?” She lies down so Ebony could make herself more comfortable.

She lays her head down under Lex’s chin, grabbing onto her hair. She lets out a little contented sigh before slowly drifting back to sleep.

Lex kisses the top of her head, running her fingers through her hair.

Ethan lies down next to them, pulling up the bed covers.

“Was she right?” Lex asks softly after making sure that Ebony was asleep.

“What?”

“Are you scared?” She finds his hand and gives it a squeeze. “Because it’s okay if you are.”

He doesn’t say anything.

“Are you scared?” She asks again, turning her head to look at him. She moves the hand that was holding his up to cup his cheek.

He leans into her touch, moving his hand up to join hers. “Yeah. I am.” He sighs. “I’m scared that my dad will show up and try to hurt you or the girls. He could easily come here when I’m off at work and do something to you. I don’t even know what he would even do, but his texts are so relentless. I don’t even want to think about all the things he calls you and the girls. The way he talks about you. I don’t want him anywhere near here. He says he’s gonna come here and get rid of you guys. I’m scared he’s gonna stay true to that.”

“They’re just empty threats, babe.” She says gently. She runs her fingers through his hair, letting them trail down his neck before coming to rest on his shoulder. “He’s not going to do anything to us. Even if he knows where we are, we’re moving soon. There’s no way he’d know about that.” 

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath before opening them again. “I know. Just the thought of him coming out here scares me.”

“I know.” She kisses his lips softly. She understood why he was scared. The though scared her as well. But she knew that anything happening was unlikely.

He threads his fingers through her hair, resting his forehead against hers as they break away from the kiss. “I gotta protect you. I gotta protect our kids.” He whispers.

“We are protecting our kids.” She says. “And you don’t have to protect me. I can take care of myself.”

He smiles. “I know you’re fully capable of taking care of yourself, but that’s not gonna stop me from protecting you as much as I can.” He kisses her.

“I know.” She smiles at him. She loved that he was always wanting to protect her. 

When they lived in Hatchetfield the only time she ever felt safe was when she and Hannah were with him away from the trailer. She trusted him when she had never trusted anyone before. It had taken a long time, but he had been patient with her, knowing that trust wasn’t something she handed out lightly. Or at all. They had been friends for a few years before they started dating, and he didn’t know for sure if she trusted him until they were about fourteen or fifteen when she had him pick Hannah up from school because Lex had to work.

“And you’re always super protective when I’m pregnant.” She adds.

“Yeah, well, there’s more of you to protect, isn’t there?” He says with a shrug, with full knowledge that sometimes him being over-protective annoyed her.

“You calling me fat?”

“What! No! Definitely not. I mean more of you as in you’re growing another person.” He says hastily, hoping he hasn’t accidentally made her mad.

She laughs, giving him a quick kiss. “I was only joking, babe. I knew what you meant.” She had never really cared about appearances in that way. She always had more important things to think about. Like making sure that there was enough food for Hannah to have at least a decent meal every day.

Food had always been one of her main struggles during her time in Hatchetfield. There was never much of it in the trailer and her mum always got first dibs. Any leftovers she fed to Hannah. When Ethan had found out about this, he made sure to always give her his lunch so that she’d at least be able to eat something every day.

“Daddy.” Ebony mumbled, half asleep, drawing Lex out of her thoughts.

“I’m right here, kiddo.” Ethan said to her softly.

She rolls over and snuggles into him, not opening her eyes. 

“Should we take her back to her own bed?” Lex asks.

He shakes his head. “Nah, I don’t mind her being here.”

“Yeah, but she’s not going to be able to sleep with us forever.” She loved getting to have a cuddle with her daughter, but she needed to learn how to spend the whole night in her own room.

“She’s just going through a phase of wanting to spend lots of time with us. She probably just wants to be with us as much as she can before the baby’s born.” He says with a shrug.

“Yeah, maybe.”

* * *

“Can I open them yet?” Hannah asked, sitting in front of her freshly sorted Christmas presents.

“Yes, you can open them.” Lex says.

Hannah beams and immediately starts to carefully open her presents.

“Do you wanna open your presents?” Lex asks Ebony, who is sitting on her lap.

She shrugs, leaning into Lex. When she had woken up in the middle of the night, she hadn’t been able to go back to sleep, so was rather tired and on the verge of grumpiness.

“Come on, let’s do it together.” Ethan said, sliding off of the couch and onto the ground next to Ebony’s presents, holding his arms out to her.

She allows him to pick her up out of Lex’s lap and sit her down on his own.

One by one he picked up each of her presents and helped her open them.

Hannah soon finished with her presents. She climbed up onto the couch and leaned into Lex, clutching onto a plush puppy she’d gotten.

“Do you like your presents?” She asks, wrapping an arm around Hannah and giving her a squeeze.

She nods. “Thank you.” She rests her head on Lex’s shoulder, rubbing the soft fabric of the toy over her cheeks.

“No worries, Banana.” She kisses the top of her head.

“I like that we do Christmas now.” She says softly, still rubbing the toy on her face.

“Me too.” She rests her head on top of Hannah’s.

“Will we always get to do Christmas?” She asks.

“Yes.” Lex knew how much Christmas meant to all of them. It was being able to provide a normal childhood for Hannah and Ebony. It meant they were financially stable. Lex didn’t ever want to stop celebrating Christmas, even though she wasn’t that into it herself, it meant a lot to Hannah.

“Good.” She lies down, resting her head on Lex’s lap.

“’Nana, I was sitting there.” Ebony said, getting up from where Ethan was helping her with her presents, and walked over to the couch.

“You were with dad.” Hannah pointed at him, not moving from Lex’s lap.

“Before.” She grumbles. “Was here first.” She tries to push Hannah away.

“No pushing, Ebbi.” Lex takes her hands away from Hannah.

“Mummy!” She begins crying. “Was first!” She grabs Hannah’s plushie and tries to tug it away from her. “Get off ‘Nana.”

“Let go Ebbi, that’s mine.” She pulls hard on the toy, taking it out of Ebony’s grip.

The force of the pull caused Ebony to fall forward, hitting her chin on Lex’s knee. She starts crying even harder than before.

“Sorry.” Hannah mutters, hugging the toy close to her chest.

“Are you okay, Ebbi.” Lex asks.

Ebony simply cries as Ethan picks her up off of the floor.

“Let’s go lie down for a bit.” He says.

“No!” She protests.

“Come on, you’re tired. Let’s have a nap.” He rubs her back.

She stops fighting and leans into him.

He kisses the top of her head and walks out of the living room and into his and Lex’s room.

“Did I do something wrong?” Hannah asks quietly after a few seconds of silence. She sits up, still hugging her plushie tightly.

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Lex said, brushing hair out of Hannah’s face. “Ebony didn’t get a lot of sleep last night so she’s just a bit tired and grumpy.”

She nods her understanding. “I don’t like it when she’s upset. It makes me upset.”

“I know, Banana.” She gives her a squeeze.

They sit there cuddled up on the couch talking until Ethan emerges about half an hour later.

“How is she?” Lex asks when she sees him.

“She’s fine, managed to fall asleep after a few minutes.” He plonks himself down next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

“We’ll have to wake her up at some point. I don’t want her to sleep all day, otherwise she won’t sleep tonight.” She says, resting her head on his shoulder.

He kisses the top of her head before turning his attention to Hannah. “How are you going, Split? Get any good presents?”

She nods. “Got this.” She holds up the plushie so he could see. “I got a big animal en… en… en… enc… en.”

“Encyclopedia.” Lex supplies for her.

“Yeah, an animal enclepedia. Do you wanna read it with me later?”

“Sure.” He says.

“Yay.” She leans into Lex, rubbing the plushie on her cheeks.


	7. Chapter 57

Hannah came through the front door, all smiles as she panted slightly. Ethan was right behind her, pushing her bike inside.

“Okay, go put it away, Banana.” He instructed.

She took her helmet off, leaving it on the table before taking the bike from him and walking it out onto the balcony. She quickly locks it onto the balcony railing. She goes back inside and hands Ethan the key.

“Thank you.” He says, pocketing the key. “Can you put your helmet away too, please?”

She takes the helmet from the table and goes into her room, placing it in her cupboard. When she comes back out of her room she goes over to the kitchen where Ethan is talking to Lex. He pauses in whatever he was saying to hand Hannah a glass of water.

“Thanks.” She says, gulping down the water.

“No worries, Split.” He says before going back to his conversation with Lex.

Hannah doesn’t really pay attention to what it was that they were saying, it was boring grown-up stuff anyway. She quickly finished drinking her water. She was about to go off and play with Ebony when she had an idea. She went over to Lex and gave her a hug.

She quickly finishes her sentence before turning her attention to Hannah. “Did you have a fun bike ride, Banana?” She asked.

“Uh-huh.” She nodded. “Dad even let me ride home.”

“Really?” Lex looked to Ethan.

He shrugs. “She hasn’t tried to run off in ages, so I figured, why not? Besides, she wasn’t allowed to get too far away from me, right Split?”

Hannah nods. “I was good.”

“Okay.” Lex wasn’t too sure if she was comfortable with Hannah riding in the street, but if she didn’t get too far away from Ethan and hadn’t run off for a while, she supposed it would be an alright thing to do.

“Mum?”

“Yes?”

“Next weekend can we go to the zoo?” Hannah had always wanted to go to the zoo, even more so since she got her animal encyclopedia. “Please?”

Lex thought for a moment. “Maybe.”

“Why maybe? Can we go please?”

“It’s a maybe because I need to know how much it’s going to cost, okay? I’ll give you a yes or no once I’ve done some research.” She explained.

“Why do you need to know how much it costs. Can’t we just go?” She tugs on Lex’s hands.

“I need to know because we only have so much money and have other things that we need to spend it on.”

“Okay.” She mumbled. “When will you know if we can go?”

“Soon.”

“Okay.” She stops hugging Lex and takes a step back. “I’m gonna read my big animal book so I’m ready for the zoo.” She runs off into her room.

“I swear she reads that book cover to cover every day.” Lex says, watching her leave.

“She does love her animals.” Ethan says, wrapping an arm around her.

“True, she’s still asking for a pet every other day.” She leans into him.

“Maybe for her birthday we could get her a fish or something.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

He kisses her cheek. “What did you and Ebbi get up to while we were gone?”

“Not much. She was pretty happy doing her colouring the whole time.”

“Didn’t have a go at the walls this time?”

“No, she was good.”

“That’s good.”

* * *

Hannah had been bouncing off the walls all morning from excitement.

“Going yet?” She asked every few minutes, going up to either Lex or Ethan.

“Soon, Banana.” Lex said to the most recent time she asked. “Have you got your hat and headphones?”

She nodded, putting on both items before picking up her encyclopedia and hugging it to her chest.

“You can’t bring your book.” She says.

“Why?”

“It’s took big, you won’t be able to carry it around the whole time, and I don’t want to have to carry it once your arms get tired.”

“Won’t get tired.” She hugs onto the book tighter. “Can I take it please?”

Lex sighs. “Alright, but you have to carry it. I’m not going to.”

“Okay.” Hannah nods and runs over to stand by the front door, ready to leave. “Going now?”

“Yeah I think so.” Lex picks up the backpack she’d packed, swinging it over her shoulder.

“We’re ready.” Ethan says as he carries Ebony out of her room.

“Let’s go!” Hannah yelled happily. She pulls the door open and scampers down the hallway.

“Slow down, Hannah.” Lex calls after her as she, Ethan and Ebony leave the apartment.

Hannah was waiting for them by the elevator, bouncing up and down. She’d already pressed the button to summon it and the doors opened just as they joined her.

They rode the lift to the parking level and piled into the car. Hannah was still bouncing, completely overcome with excitement. She was like this the entire drive to the zoo, though would occasionally stop bouncing just long enough to flick through her encyclopedia and tell Ebony a fact about a random animal.

She got a little less excited when she saw how many people were already at the zoo. She knew there would be other people there, she just didn’t imagine it to be nearly this many.

When they all got out of the car, she attached herself to Ethan, hugging onto his arm.

“You alright, Split?” he asked.

“Lots of people.” She muttered.

“Yeah, there are a lot of people. But they’re not going to hurt you or anything. They’re just here to see the animals like we are. But if it’s too scary we don’t have to go in. It’s up to you.”

“Wanna see animals.” She said, still hugging onto him and her book.

“Okay, let’s go see the animals then. But if you want to go at any time we can go.” He kisses the top of her head.

She nods, and together they all head into the zoo. She stays firmly attached to him until they come to the first exhibit, it being for spider monkeys.

“Can you find these in your book?” Ethan asks her.

She lets go of him to flick through her book, though leans into him so that she doesn’t lose contact. She quickly finds the right page and begins spouting off facts about the monkeys.

With each different enclosure she seems more and more confident. Soon she was running right up to the fences, trying to get as close to the animals as she could. She’d always open up her book to the right page and read out what it said about any specific animal. She mainly aimed these facts at Ebony who’d run up to the fences with her.

Lex and Ethan were always the ones to decide when it was time to move on to the next enclosure. The girls would happily watch an individual animal for hours.

“Having fun, babe?” He asks as they passed through a gate which led them into a more open area of the zoo. It had kangaroos dotted out in the open and people were able to go up and feed them.

“Yeah I am.” She says leaning into him as he wraps an arm around her. “The girls are certainly having a good time.”

“I think they’d quite happily just live here.” He said as the girls ran up to them.

“Mum, can we feed them?” Hannah asked, pointing at the kangaroos.

“If you can find some food for them you can.” Lex replied, picking up Ebony who didn’t seem too keen on feeding the animals.

“There’s some over there.” She moved her hand so that it was now pointing at a bin full of what was presumably kangaroo food.

“Off you go then.”

Hannah grinned and grabbed Ethan’s hand, dragging him over to feed the animals with her. She let go of him to load up her now free hand with food. She hugs her book to her chest as they wander over to a kangaroo.

“Hold out your hand, Split.” He instructs, placing his hands on her shoulders.

A bit nervously she held out her hand and the kangaroo began to eat from it.

“Feels funny.” She says giggling a little.

“I bet it does.” He gives her shoulders a squeeze. “What does you book say about them?”

When the kangaroo finishes eating, she opens up her book. Unfortunately, the kangaroo thinks that the book was more food and started to nibble at the edge of the cover.

“No! Bad!” Hannah pushes the animals face away from her book. 

The kangaroo tries again.

“No!” She says again, pulling her book away and hugging it to her chest as she begins to cry.

“Let’s go somewhere else.” Ethan said, trying to guide her away.

She didn’t make any movement in response, her thoughts too caught up on the chewed edge of her book. Her book was ruined. She loved that book. She had been so careful with it too. She should have just left it at home like Lex had said.

Ethan, not wanting her to have a panic attack or a meltdown, picked her up and started carrying her back over to Lex and Ebony.

Hannah goes to wrap her arms around him, crying into his shoulder, but in doing so loses her grip on her book which goes plummeting to the ground. “No!” She yells, crying harder. 

He hears the thud of the book landing in the dirt. He quickly turns and picks it up before continuing on his trajectory.

“Book!”

“I’ve got your book. Don’t worry, Banana.” He said. From the way she was holding onto him, he could show her that he had the book, but hoped that she registered what he said.

“What’s wrong?” Lex asked, meeting them halfway, still carrying Ebony. She had missed seeing the incident and had only been alerted when she heard Hannah’s cries.

“The kangaroo tried to eat her book.” Ethan explained. He holds up the book so that she could see the slightly nibbled edge.

She takes it from him and dusts off some of the dirt that gotten on it. “It’s okay, Hannah.” She says. “You’re book’s okay.”

Hannah shakes her head, not lifting it from where it was pressed into Ethan’s shoulder. “Broken.” She says between sobs.

“It’s not broken, see?” Lex moves to that Hannah can see the book.

She sniffles and looks up.

Lex opens the book and flicks through the pages. “It still works.”

Hannah seems to calm down a bit and rubs the last few tears from her eyes, though she doesn’t loosen her grip on Ethan. 

“Do you wanna go to the insect house and check out the spiders?” She asks, knowing that Hanna had been particularly excited about seeing all the different spider species.

She nods.

They walk straight over to the insect house and quickly find the terrariums containing spiders. 

“See if you can find which one looks the most like Webby.” Ethan said. Even though Hannah was still looking fairly upset, he could tell that she was excited to be around so many spiders.

She’d point out different ones, and he’d move to that she could get a closer look. 

“That one.” She said pointing at a large black, hairy tarantula after inspecting several different spiders.

“That one looks the most like Webby?”

She nods. “Little Webby.”

“If that’s little Webby, how big is the actual Webby?” He asks.

“Really big.”

“Is Webby as big as a plate?”

“Bigger.” She says not taking her eyes off of the tarantula.

“As big as Ebbi?”

“Bigger.”

“As big as you?”

“Bigger.”

“As big as me?”

“Bigger.”

“Jeez, Webby is really big if she’s bigger than me.” He says.

“To Webby, you’re that size.” She points at the tarantula, smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what other zoos are like but at my local zoo there are just kangaroos, emus and peacocks just wondering around and you can pat them and feed them, well not the peacocks but the kangaroos and emus you can.


	8. Chapter 58

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning: Hannah has a meltdown and it's from her perspective.

Ever since the trip to the zoo, Hannah always seemed on the edge of a meltdown. The smallest thing seemed to be able to set her off. Though, when asked, she always said that she loved going to the zoo and wanted to go again.

It had taken her a while to get over the small amount of damage done to her animal book. Lex covering the nibbled part with contact paper helped.

She seemed to have become overly protective of the encyclopedia. She’d take it everywhere with her, not letting it out of her sight. Most of the time she wouldn’t let anyone else touch it. She wasn’t even reading it most of the time, just simply holding onto it.

Whenever she wasn’t doing anything else, Hannah would stand in the middle of the living room, hugging her book while rocking back and forth on her heels, just staring at the wall.

Lex often wondered what Hannah was thinking during these times. It always took a while to break her out of her little trance. She didn’t like being touched when she was doing this either, so they’d have to call out to her. It was even harder to get a response out of her when she wore her headphones as well.

She’d even started taking the book with her to school. She’d already brought it with her a few times before the zoo trip to show it to Cody. Now, however, it seemed permanently fixed on her desk, sitting beneath her pencil case.

She was rocking back in forth in her chair, fingers dancing along the spine of her book. She was only half listening to what the teacher was saying. Hannah never found much point paying attention in class, she hardly understood the teacher to begin with and just had Cody or the class aid explain the subject of the lesson later.

“Try and pay attention please, Hannah.” The teacher said, noticing her lack of concentration.

She looked up from her book briefly, a frown on her face. Hannah hated it when the teacher singled her out. It meant that everyone would stare at her. She got that enough whenever she stimmed or had a panic attack. The only thing the attention did was make her more anxious.

She shrunk down in her chair, rocking a little harder.

Cody noticed. “Are you okay?” He asked.

She shrugged and rubbed her cheeks with fisted hands.

The teacher was still speaking, talking to the rest of the class.

Suddenly the entire room burst into laughter.

The noise gave her a fright. She hadn’t understood what the teacher had said and now everyone was laughing. They must be laughing at her. She began hitting her head. She must be such an idiot, not understanding what was so funny. She was what they found funny. Hannah the weird stupid kid who always needed help. She kept hitting her head.

“You shouldn’t hit yourself, Hannah.” Cody said. He tried to grab her hands, but she ripped them away and began to cry.

He was only trying to help her. She knew this. Why couldn’t she let him help? The laughter had stopped and now everyone was staring at her. She wanted them to stop. She already knew what they were thinking. What kind of twelve-year-old cries in the middle of class? She could feel their judgemental eyes burrow into her.

“Hey, let’s look at your animals.” Cody said, pulling out her animal book and flicking to a page about spiders.

He was trying to distract her. He was a good friend. He was her only friend. He was the only person who had taken the time to talk to her, the weird stupid kid. Probably only because no one really spoke to him either.

“Look, there’s a tarantula. You like tarantulas.” He pointed at a specific spider on the page.

She wanted his distractions to work. She wanted to stop crying. To stop having to hit herself. But it wasn’t working. Her thoughts were just taking over.

And now the class aid was coming over to them. That meant that more attention was going to be on her. She didn’t want the class aid to come over. He was only good at helping with school stuff. He couldn’t help with this. Cody had already tried and failed. The aid had no chance.

“Hey, stop that, Hannah.” He said, grabbing her hands. His grip was stronger than Cody’s and she couldn’t break free.

That didn’t stop her from trying. She pulled away with all her might. She kicked at him and screamed. If people weren’t looking at her before, they certainly were now. She hated this. She wanted to leave. She had to leave.

“Let’s go somewhere else, okay?” The aid said. “Cody, could you grab her headphones for her please.”

The headphones were placed over her ears, though they did nothing against the stares. She was escorted from the classroom. She fought a little, knowing that as soon as she was outside, they’d all be talking about her. The weird stupid kid who cries during class. She wanted to just be left alone.

The aid takes her to an empty classroom. “You gotta calm down, Hannah.” He said.

Telling her to calm down had the same of effectiveness as telling a fire to put itself out. She didn’t know how to calm down. So, she didn’t. She kept kicking and screaming and trying to hit herself.

“Do you want me to get the office to call her parents?” Cody asked. He’d followed them. He was a good friend. He tried to help.

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea, thanks.” The aid said, still trying to stop her from hurting herself.

Cody left to go to the front office. He left the door open. She wanted to go out that door. She was going too. She’d feel better if she went out that door. If she went out of the school gates. Away from her laughing class. She wouldn’t hear them if she left. They wouldn’t see her. She wouldn’t be the weird stupid kid if she wasn’t there.

With a great deal of effort, she stopped screaming. Stopped kicking. Stopped fighting. She couldn’t stop the tears, but she could hold back the rest. The class aid seemed to think she was calm. She wasn’t calm. He thoughts were reeling. She may be weird and stupid, but she was also smart. She had spent her whole life watching normal people. She knew how to trick them. 

As expected, the aid relaxed his grip on her. A rooky error. Lex and Ethan knew to hold onto her until she sat on one of their laps.

She ripped her hands away from him and bolted out the door. Her hands went straight back to her head.

“Hannah, come back!” The aid yelled after her.

He should know that yelling wasn’t going to do anything. She sprinted down the corridor and out the front gates. On her way she passes Cody. 

“Where are you going?” He asks. He’s a good friend. He tried to help.

She doesn’t acknowledge him. She’s a bad friend. She wouldn’t let him help. She weird and stupid and can’t be nice to her only friend. She couldn’t stop though. She needed to leave. 

She runs through the courtyard and to the gates. Their closed during school hours. That doesn’t matter. She climbs up the metal structure and jumps over the other side. Now she’s out on the street she doesn’t know which way to go. Should she go towards Ethan or Lex? She doesn’t know. She hits her head.

Her book. She left her book. She doesn’t have her book. She needs her book. But she can’t go back. The class aid is almost at the gates and he can open them. She can’t let him catch up. She can’t let any of them catch up.

They’ve probably called Lex or Ethan by now. They’ll be coming to help her. They always come to help her. They’re good parents. She’s not good. She’s a terrible person. She’s weird and stupid and a bad friend and a bad daughter.

She hits her head and begins running. She doesn’t take not of which way she’s going. She just goes. She needs to get far away. She needs people to stop staring. To stop laughing.

She wants her book. She wants Lex. She wants Ethan. She wants Ebony. She wants to be left alone. She wants to be far away. She keeps running.

She doesn’t know how long she’s been running. She knows that people are trying to catch up to her. She hears a loud screech of breaks.

“Hannah!” 

She knows that voice. That’s a good voice. That’s Ethan’s voice. He’s a good dad. He helps. She wants him to help her.

She hits her head, but he grabs her hands. She fights to free them. She doesn’t want to fight Ethan. She can’t help it. He helps, but she’s not allowed to be helped. She’s weird and stupid and a bad person.

He picks her up. She likes it when he picks her up. Lex doesn’t do it anymore, but he still does.

She wants to keep hitting herself.

He’s talking to her softly, not all harshly like other people do. He’s not laughing at her. He’s not staring. She doesn’t understand what he’s saying but she likes hearing his voice. He’s a good dad. He helps.

He’s walking with her. She doesn’t know where. She still wants to hit her head. She’s still fighting against him, even though she doesn’t want to.

He keeps talking to her. He wipes away her tears. They keep falling, but he still wipes them away.

She rests her chin on his shoulder. She doesn’t fight as much. She still wants to hit her head.

He’s talking to someone else now. She doesn’t pay attention. They keep walking and he’s back to talking to her.

She’s still crying. She still wants to hit her head, but the urge is lessening.

She looks at where they are. She sees that they are walking towards the school. She doesn’t want to go back in there. She can’t. They’ll stare. They’ll laugh. She’s weird a stupid. She’s stupid. They all know it. She’s weird. She’s stupid.

She starts fighting again. Starts kicking. Starts screaming. She can’t go back in there. 

“It’s okay, we can stay outside.” Ethan says.

She can understand him, but she doesn’t acknowledge him. 

He’s stopped walking and says it a few more times.

They’re not going in. They’ll still laugh. They’ll still stare. But not right now. She’s weird and stupid. But she doesn’t have to go back. Ethan won’t make her. He’s a good dad. He helps.

She stops fighting and kicking and screaming. She sees him. He gives her a soft smile.

“There you are.” He says.

She looks at him, trying to silently express everything she’s thinking.

She has Ethan. She wants Lex too. She’s selfish. One should be enough, but she wants both. No wonder they laugh. No wonder they stare. She’s weird and stupid and selfish. She starts fighting again. She wants to hit her head.

But then Lex is there. She likes it when Lex is there. She’s a good mum she helps.

She’s going to be okay. They’re going to help. They know how.

Lex runs her hands over Hannah’s head and hair. It’s nice. She doesn’t want to hit her head as much anymore.

She’s still crying, but she’s not fighting. She’s not hitting. She’s okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so I almost had a meltdown at work today, so this is what you get. Though if I'm being honest this was already the plan for the chapter, just me having a meltdown meant that this all got written in one big therapeutic session.


	9. Chapter 59

He was driving towards Hannah’s school. He was trying to get there as fast as possible. Lex had called him, saying that the school had rang her to report that Hannah was having a meltdown. Only they didn’t know she was having a meltdown. She’d never had one at the school before. They had described it to Lex as she was having a panic attack but worse.

No one apart from him and Lex could really help Hannah with her meltdowns. Not many other people had tried and none of them had been successful. The people at her school were able to help her with panic attacks, but there was no way they could handle a meltdown.

He was getting close to the school when he slammed on his breaks suddenly. Hannah had just run past him. He got out of the car, glad that no one else was on the road, and ran after her. How had she gotten out of her school? He knew they always kept the gates locked during school hours.

“Hannah!” He called out.

She hesitated a little in her movements, so he knew she’d heard him. She was about to start hitting her head when he caught up to her.

He grabbed her hands. He could see a few bruises beginning to form on her head, and instantly knew she’d been hitting herself.

She fights to get her hands free, trying to get away from him.

“It’s just me, Banana.” He says gently.

She keeps fighting, not appearing to have registered the words at all. Her movements are frantic. She looks like she’s in pain and he know that her thoughts are overwhelming her.

He picks her up. “It’s okay, you’re okay.” He says. 

She’s still fighting him, but she pauses slightly when he speaks.

“No one is going to hurt you or anything.” He says, starting to walk back towards the school. “You’re okay now. I’ve got you.” He wipes away a few tears that had fallen down her cheeks.

She was fighting a bit less now. She periodically made frustrated muttering noises as her thoughts surrounded her.

“Good job you drove past when you did.” Hannah’s class aid, Andy, said, running up to Ethan. He was very much out of breath, clearly having ran after her from the school.

“Yeah.” He said, rubbing her back. 

She rests her chin on his shoulders.

“Is she gonna be okay?” Andy asked. 

“Yeah, she’ll be okay. It’ll just take her a little while.” Ethan replied, hitching Hannah up a bit higher. “Meltdowns are normally like this. Do you know what caused it?”

Andy shrugged. “Not sure. The teacher called her out for not paying attention, but she didn’t start with the hitting or anything for another few minutes.”

“Just one of those days, huh, Banana?” He kisses the side of her head.

She doesn’t acknowledge this at all, only continuing to mutter to herself.

“Hey, uh, would you mind driving my car to the school?” Ethan asked. “I don’t think I’m gonna be able to get her to stay seated in there, and I think she’ll just run off again if I put her down.”

“Yeah sure, no problem.” Andy took the keys from him and went over to the car.

Ethan continued to walk back to the school. He was impressed with how far Hannah had managed to run. It took a good ten-fifteen minutes to get within sight of the school gates.

As they neared, it seemed to click with Hannah where they were walking. She starts fighting against him again. She was kicking and screaming, and he quickly realised that she didn’t want to go into the school.

“It’s okay, we can stay outside.” He said, trying to calm her back down. She had been doing so well before.

She doesn’t stop screaming and kicking.

“We’re not going in, Banana.” He said, trying to get her to understand him. “We’re gonna stay out here. You’re okay, we’re not going inside.”

She seemed to slowly grasp onto his words. She stopped kicking and screaming, though she was still crying. She looks at him.

“There you are.” He says, giving her a soft smile. She was acknowledging him now. 

Hannah looked right at him. She was letting him into her world, trying to get him to understand what was going on in her head. But then she starts frowning, her tears forming faster and suddenly she’s fighting him again.

This time he doesn’t know why. He looks around, trying to figure out what might have set her off. He spots Lex coming around the bend, pushing Ebony in the stroller.

She came right up to them, breathing heavily. “It’s okay, Hannah, you’re okay.” She says.

“Did you run here?” He asks.

“Yes.” She said, not taking her eyes off of Hannah as she started to run her hand of her head and hair.

“Was that a good idea?”

She doesn’t say anything but shoots him a glare.

Hannah was calming down as she registered that Lex was there. She moves from being slumped against Ethan, wrapping her arms around Lex’s shoulders. It appeared she wanted Lex to be the one carrying her.

“I can’t carry you, Hannah.” She said. “But let’s sit down and you can sit on my lap, is that okay?”

Hannah didn’t answer but continued to hold on to Lex.

“Let’s sit down.” She said. Together they moved to sit down on the pavement and Hannah crawled into her lap. Lex kissed the top of her head and began to gently rock her back and forth.

“Mummy.” Ebony called out from the stroller.

“I got her.” Ethan said, getting to his feet.

Hannah looked like she was falling asleep, her head resting against Lex’s shoulder.

It was then that Andy came over to them. He had grabbed Hannah’s things from her classroom. “I parked your car by the front office.” He said, handing Ethan the keys and backpack.

“Thanks.” He said, taking them in one hand, his other holding Ebony. “I’m curious, how did she get out of the school? Were the gates open?”

“Oh, well she just full on climbed over. One second she was on the ground, the next she was at the top of the gate.” Andy explained, seemingly rather impressed.

Ethan could see why. The gates weren’t the sort of gates that could easily be climbed, and from the sound of it, Hannah had scaled up them like it was nothing.

“She does like climbing.” He said. Maybe they should take her rock-climbing sometime. “Thanks again, Andy.” He said.

“No problem.” He said before heading back into the school.

Ethan went back over to Lex and Hannah and sat down next to them. “How’s she going?” He asked as Ebony began climbing over him.

“She’s okay.” Lex said.

Hannah suddenly jumped, looking up at Lex, confused.

She smiles at her, holding back a laugh. “You felt that, didn’t you?”

“Huh?” Ethan looked over at them, not sure what it was that he missed.

“The baby’s kicking.” Lex explained. She looks back to Hannah, kissing to top of her head.

“Cool!” He shuffled closer to feel for himself. 

Up until this point no one else had been able to feel the baby kick, though Lex had been able to feel it move for a while. He places his hand on her protruding stomach, grinning when he feels a slight pressure from the baby. He kisses her on the lips.

“You wanna feel, Ebbi?” He asked, taking Ebony’s hand and guiding it onto Lex’s stomach.

When she felt the pressure of the baby pressing against her hand, Ebony pressed back.

“Okay, I think that’s enough.” Lex said, moving Ebony’s hand away when she started pressing too hard. “We should probably head home. How does that sound, Banana?” She asked, looking down at Hannah who was still curled up in her lap. 

Hannah didn’t say anything, continuing to hug onto Lex.

“Do you think you can walk to the car or do you want me to carry you?” Ethan asked, rubbing her back. He knows he’s not going to get a verbal response from her, but maybe she’d let go of Lex so he could pick her up.

After several moments, she let go of Lex enough so that Ethan was able to pick her up, though she started crying as soon as she broke contact with Lex.

“I’m right here, Hannah.” She said, getting to her feet, bringing Ebony with her. She wipes away the tears that had fallen down Hannah’s cheeks.

They walk over to the car and Ethan places Hannah inside while Lex goes to the other side to do the same with Ebony.

“Can you do up your seatbelt, Banana?” He asked.

She frowned and tried to get out of her seat.

“Hey, you gotta sit down.” He said, trying to keep her seated. “We’re gonna go home now.”

When Lex had finished buckling Ebony into her seat, she squeezed past and sat down in the middle seat. “Can you sit next to me, Banana?” She took hold of Hannah’s arm.

It took her a few moments to realise Lex was sitting next to her, but when she did, she began to calm down. She grabbed on tightly to Lex’s arm, hugging onto it.

“Can you put your seatbelt on please?” She asked.

After a few seconds to process, Hannah grabs the seatbelt and pulls it across herself. She tries to get the two pieces of the buckle to connect but kept missing. She grew increasing frustrated as she continuously smashed the buckle pieces together.

“Hannah, let me help.” Lex said, trying to get Hannah to stop. She places her hand on top of Hannah’s and carefully guides the buckle together until it clicks. “There you go.” She says, quickly doing up her own as Ethan climbs into the front seat.

It doesn’t take long for them to drive home. Ethan takes Hannah, who protests a little about being separated from Lex who was carrying Ebony.

Once back in the apartment they all pile onto the couch, Hannah curling up once again in Lex’s lap.

“Geoff wants me to come back to work.” Ethan says with a sigh, glancing down at his phone. “Do you think you’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, we’ll be fine. You can go.” Lex says.

“You sure? Because if she runs, you’re not going to be able to catch up to her.” He says.

“I don’t think she’s gonna run, babe.” She gestures to the half-asleep Hannah on top of her.

He doesn’t want to leave but he knows he has too. His boss was always really generous when it came to letting him leave at a moment’s notice whenever one of his girls needed him. Today hadn’t been a good day to leave, they were surprisingly busy and there weren’t enough people scheduled on to keep up.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“We’ll be fine, Ethan.” She gives his hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Okay.” He says with a sigh. He kisses her. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He kisses the tops of Hannah and Ebony’s heads before getting up and leaving.

Hannah falls asleep soon after he’s gone. Lex doesn’t move for a little while, not wanting to disturb her sleep. She only gets up when Ebony starts getting antsy

She spends the rest of the day playing with her while Hannah sleeps curled up on the couch. She made sure to lock the front door, just in case Hannah wakes up and decides to make a run for it.

* * *

The girls had been tucked into bed, allowing Lex and Ethan to enjoy some time together curled up on the couch watching TV. He had his arm wrapped around her waist and she was resting her head on his shoulder.

Every few minutes Ethan’s phone would go off. He’d always check it, but never responded to any of the messages that kept coming through. The noise his phone was making was slowly driving Lex up the wall.

“Who keeps texting you?” She asks after a while. As soon as she asks, she realises who it must be.

“My dad.” Ethan replied, letting out a sigh.

“Why is he messaging you every five minutes?” She shifted herself so that she was sitting more upright.

“He’s just trying to get his point across, I think. I’m not reading any of them. I don’t wanna deal with him today.” As he spoke his phone went off once more.

“What’s so important that he feels the need to tell you so many times?” Lex was becoming increasingly frustrated with the phone and Ethan’s dad.

“Probably something to do with how he’s been threatening to come and ‘get rid’ of you. Before he was saying that if I wasn’t home by the new year that he’d come here himself.”

“It’s been the new year for weeks.” She said.

“Exactly.”


	10. Chapter 60

Hannah pulled at her hair, trying to undo her failed attempt at braiding it.

“Hey, what was wrong with those?” Lex said, brushing away Hannah’s hands and undoing the braids herself before her hair became tangled. “You did a really good job.”

“Not good enough.” She huffed, crossing her arms. “You do it now.”

“I want you to try again please.” She unfolded Hannah’s arms, placing the hairbrush and hair ties into her hands.

“No.” She tossed away the items.

“You need to learn how to do you hair, Banana. One more try and if you’re still unhappy with it, then I’ll do it, okay?” She grabbed the hair things and gave them back to Hannah.

“But it’s hard.” She moaned, leaning into Lex, who was sitting behind her.

“I know.” She combs through Hannah hair with her fingers, kissing the top of her head. “But the more you practice the easier it’ll become.”

She huffs and reluctantly begins to braid her hair. After a few minutes of concentration, she becomes frustrated.

“Not working.” She says, messing up the progress she’d made. She starts yanking hard when her fingers become ensnared in her hair.

“Stop.” Lex says, placing her hands on top of Hannah’s, stopping her from pulling out her hair. Carefully, she detangles Hannah’s hands and smooths out her hair. “Do you want to start again?”

Hannah shook her head.

“Okay.” Lex quickly brushes out and braids her hair. “We’ll try again tomorrow.” She says as she ties off the last braid.

“I don’t want to.”

“I know you don’t, but you need to learn.”

“Why?” Hannah grabbed Lex’s hands, beginning to play with her fingers. 

“Well, it’s a useful skill to have. It’s something you learn how to do as you become older and more independent. One day you’ll probably go off and live on your own somewhere, and you’ll need to be able to do your hair by yourself.” She explains.

“But I don’t want to go off and live on my own.” She said. “So, I don’t need to learn how.”

“You know, one day, I might just decide that I don’t want to do your hair anymore, and then where would you be?”

“You wouldn’t do that though.” She tilts her head back so that she got an upside-down view of Lex. “You’re a good mum, you help me with my hair.”

“I’m still gonna make you learn to do it yourself.” She kisses her forehead. “Now go and get your lunch organised.”

Hannah gets up and heads out of her room to go prepare her lunch in the kitchen.

Lex started to think. Would Hannah ever become independent enough to live on her own? She could do some basic things, like make a sandwich or toast, but she couldn’t do things like her hair or cutting her fingernails. A big thing she couldn’t do was calm herself down from a meltdown. Only Lex or Ethan could do that and all they did was just hold her and talk to her.

Lex didn’t want Hannah to end up in a situation where she was having a meltdown and be far away from anyone else. What would happen if Hannah lived on her own and was unable to inform them that she was having a meltdown? What would happen to her?

Hannah said that she didn’t want to move out, which Lex was perfectly fine with. She did think that as Hannah got older, she’d want to be more independent and do things on her own. But she would never become self-sufficient if she refused to learn new skills. As soon as something got too hard, she’d just give up.

Lex also worried about Hannah being able to find a job. She was sure there was one for her out there, but it would be hard to find. Even if she was qualified for a job, employers would be likely to turn her away as soon as they found out that Hannah was autistic. Lex hated the idea of people not giving Hannah a chance just because of her diagnosis. She was so capable, but no one would know if they didn’t give her a chance.

She was capable of anything she put her mind to. Lex just wished that Hannah herself would realise this. That she shouldn’t just give up when things got hard.

She sighed.

“Mummy.” Ebony said, running into the room clutching a piece of paper. “Look at my drawing.” She held the paper covered in purple scribbles up to Lex’s face.

“Wow, that’s really good, Ebbi.” She picks her up so that Ebony is now sitting on her lap. “What’s it about?”

“There’s you and me and daddy and ‘Nana.” She said, pointing to different scribbles.

None of the scribbles really looked like they could be people, but Lex smiled and nodded along, nonetheless. 

“Do you like it?” She asks wrapping her arms around Lex.

“I love it.” She kisses the top of Ebony’s head.

“Put it on the fridge?”

“Yes, we can put it on the fridge.” She places Ebony on the floor and stands up, following her as she runs out to the kitchen.

Ebony grabbed some of Hannah’s alphabet magnets from the fridge and used them to stick on her drawing.

“Look daddy.” She says, grabbing onto Ethan’s leg and pointing.

“That’s really good, Ebbi.” He said ruffling her hair.

“Dad, can I have a toasted sandwich?” Hannah asked as she constructed her lunch for school with his supervision.

“You won’t eat it if it’s toasted.” He said, turning his attention back to her.

“Yes, I will.” She said pulling out the toasted sandwich maker from its’ cupboard.

“No, you won’t. You’re just having a normal un-toasted sandwich.” He took the appliance from her and put it back away.

“But I can toast it. I know how.” She protested.

“I know you know how. But you’re not having a toastie.” He took the sandwich she had made and put it into a container, closing the lid and placing it inside her lunchbox. “Go pop this in your schoolbag unless there are any more snacks you want to add.”

She grumbled a bit before taking her lunchbox from him and putting it in her bag by the door. “Are we going now?” She asked, pressing herself into his side.

“Yep, go put your shoes on.” He says. He lifts Ebony, who was still attached to his leg, and kisses her forehead. “I’ll see you later, kiddo.”

She pats his face. “Bye bye, daddy.”

He puts her down and goes over to Lex who was standing at the edge of the kitchen. “Bye babe.” He gives her a quick kiss.

“Bye, have a good day.” She says, detaching Ebony who had returned to hugging his leg.

He goes over to the girls’ room, seeing if Hannah was ready yet. “Time to go, Banana.” He said, sticking his head in.

“Can’t go.” She said, shaking her head, a frown on her face.

“Why not? Is this about your sandwich?”

“Can’t go. Need to stay here.”

“Why do you need to stay here?” He asked. Sometimes it was hard to tell if Hannah was just being a regular kid not wanting to go to school, or if there was an actual reason to her being upset.

“You need to stay.” She said.

“Why do I need to stay?” This was certainly new.

“Webby won’t say.” She said, rather frustrated at the imaginary spider. “Open door. Come quick. Flash.”

“Come on, Banana, we’ve got to go now, or we’ll be late.” He said, holding out a hand to her.

She takes his hand only to pull him further into the room. “Can’t go.” She says again.

“We can’t stay.” He said as calmly as he could to an increasingly distressed Hannah. “I have to go to work and you have to go to school.”

“No! Open door. Come quick. Flash.” She suddenly let’s go of him and runs out of the room and goes straight over to Lex. “Open door. Come quick. Flash.” She says.

“What does that mean, Banana?” Lex asks, not quite sure what she’d missed and seeing that something was clearly bothering Hannah.

“Webby.” Ebony says.

Lex glances at her confusedly while Hannah nodded along, glad that someone seemed to understand.

“Webby said can’t go. Open door. Come quick. Flash.” She said. “Ebbi understands.”

“I don’t understand. “Lex said gently. “Could you explain it to me?”

Hannah frowns. “Open door. Come quick. Flash.” She said the words as if thinking out loud. “Flash is big. Bad. Not good for you.” She looks straight at Lex. “You’ll need help.” She says matter-of-factly. “That’s why dad can’t go.” 

Hannah quickly runs back to her room, passing Ethan on the way. She quickly grabs the ‘magic’ hat and raced back over to Lex, shoving it into her hands. “Where it so no flash.” She says.

Lex puts on the hat. “I’m all safe from the flash now.” She says.

Hannah nods. “Open door. Come quick.” 

“Do you think we can go now?” Ethan asked, rubbing Hannah’s shoulders.

She thinks. “Come quick.” She says turning towards him.

“Yeah, I’ll come quick.” He said, hoping that it was the right thing to say. One could never be too sure when Hannah got like this.

She nods. “Okay.” She takes his hand and walks over to the door, picking up her schoolbag. She didn’t really want to leave. She didn’t want Ethan to leave either, put knew she’d done all she could to warn them. There was nothing to stop what was going to happen, but at least they were prepared.

* * *

Lex had started feeling uneasy the moment Ethan and Hannah had left. She didn’t know why. She brushed the feeling off as just being worried about Hannah being okay at school that day. It was always hard for her to have a good day whenever she went around spouting stuff that Webby had said.

She had taken the hat off soon after they’d left, though Ebony kept passing it back to her.

She started craving cream cheese not long after lunch and searched the fridge for some to no avail. She pulls out her phone a texts Ethan.

> Can you stop by the shops and get me some cream cheese on your way home? 

She knew that he would be leaving work soon as he was going to pick Hannah up from school. Ever since the whole kidnapping thing, they’d decided that it would be better that whenever Hannah had what they called a ‘Webby day’ that Ethan pick her up.

It didn’t take him long to reply to her.

> I thought you didn’t like cream cheese. 

> I don’t but your baby does. 

“Mummy.” Ebony said coming up to her and tapping a finger on her lips. “Thirsty.”

Lex grabs a cup and fills it with water, handing it to her. “Two hands, Ebbi.” She said, passing over to cup.

Ebony took it, holding it carefully. 

“What do you say?”

“Thanks mummy.” She said into her water.

“You’re welcome.” Lex waits for Ebony to finish drinking before taking back the cup and placing it in the sink. She checks her phone and sees that Ethan has replied.

> Ah, I see. Anything else you want me to get? 

She thought for a moment looking around the kitchen.

> Could you get some more of Hannah’s cereal? And some carrots and potatoes. Also milk. 

She thinks they’ll be fine for everything else until she goes grocery shopping later in the week.

> Hannah’s cereal is the cornflakes in the red box, right? 

> I buy the brand that’s a white box, because it’s cheaper, but she won’t eat it unless it comes out of a red box, so don’t let her see it. 

Hannah would full on refuse to touch the cornflakes if she knew they weren’t actually from the red box. When this had first started, Lex had bought one of the red boxes but had just kept topping it up with the cheaper home-brand stuff. There wasn’t any difference with the two brands, the fact that Hannah still ate them proved that.

She was starting to grow impatient waiting for Ethan to come home with her cream cheese. He would have already picked up Hannah and should be back soon.

There was a knock at the door.

She got up to go open it, assuming it to be Ethan and Hannah. She’d left the door locked during the day and he mustn’t be able to grab his key.

She slides back the bolt and takes off the chain, opening the door, ready to greet them.

It wasn’t them.


	11. Chapter 61

Ethan had decided that the best way to smuggle the cereal home was to go to the shops before getting Hannah from school. He still wasn’t sure that he’d done the whole cereal thing correctly, but hopefully he got it right.

He’d left work a little earlier than he had planned, though still ended up arriving at the school gates a few minutes after the bell had rung.

He spotted Hannah at the usual meeting spot, pacing back and forth muttering to herself.

“Open door. Come quick. Flash.” He heard her say as he approached.

“Sorry I’m late, Split.” He said. “How was school?”

“She grabs his hand and starts dragging him back out into the carpark. “Come quick. Come quick.” She said.

“I’m coming, don’t worry.”

She stops walking when she realises that she doesn’t know where the car was.

“This way.” He gently tugged her in the right direction

“Come quick. Come quick.” She said again, taking the lead when she pots the car. She runs straight over to it, tugging incessantly on the passenger side door until Ethan unlocks it. She climbs in and does up her seatbelt. “Quick.” She called back to him as he reached the driver’s side.

He gets in the car and starts up the engine, driving out of the carpark and towards the apartment.

“Quick. Quick.” Hannah said, bouncing in her seat, trying to will him to drive faster.

“I’m going as fast as I can, Split.” He said, putting a hand on her shoulder to try and stop her bouncing. “Just sit tight, we’ll be home soon.”

“Already meant to be there. Too late. Flash.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” He said gently. “We’ll be home soon. Nothing bad is going to happen.”

“Because it’s already happened.” She said.

For some reason her words gave him a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Now he was starting to be rather eager to get home as soon as possible, just so he could make sure Lex and Ebony were okay. Logically he knew that if something was wrong Lex would call him. She had texted him during the day and seemed fine. He tried to reassure himself that nothing bad had happen or would happen. Hannah was just having an off day. She probably had had a bad dream or something. Yeah, that was it.

* * *

When Lex opened the front door, she hadn’t expected Ethan’s parents to be standing on the other side. 

His dad looked her up and down, noting her pregnant belly. “You really are slut, aren’t you?” He says pushing past her and into the apartment.

“Well, fuck you too.” She said.

“I have to say I’m impressed this place isn’t a pigsty.” He said, ignoring her as he moved into the living room. “You trailer types don’t normally know how to keep a home to any sort of standard.”

“What are you doing here?” Lex said, trying to get in front of him so that he wouldn’t move further into the apartment.

“I’m here to get my son. Where is he?”

“He’s at work.” She knew he was probably almost home at this point but thought it could work out well to have the element of surprise.

“Ah, I see your little arrangement. You lounge around here all day while he works at all hours to pay for your lavish lifestyle.” Eric sneered.

“Okay, for one; we don’t have ‘lavish’ lives. And two; I’m not ‘lounging around’, I work from home while watching our daughter if you must know.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “Now, if you don’t mind, get out.”

“I have every right to be here if I want.” He said going over and seating himself on the couch. 

“You have no right! You barged in here without an invitation. I don’t want you here, it’s my apartment, so get out!” She points harshly at the door, narrowly missing hitting Ethan’s mum, Larissa, who had silently come in behind her husband.

“Don’t you raise your voice at me!” He said angrily, standing up.

She took a step back.

“This apartment doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to my son.” He took a threatening step towards her. “Whose baby is that anyway?”

“It’s Ethan’s.” She said, placing a hand on her stomach and taking another step backwards. She could feel a build-up of tears forming. She wouldn’t let herself cry. 

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not.” It felt like the walls were closing in around her. It felt like she was back in the trailer. Why wasn’t Eric leaving? What was he going to do?

“Yes, you are. And how dare you string my son along.” He growled.

Lex didn’t know what to do, what to say. She began to breathe faster as her heartrate increased. She needed to get him to leave. But how? She’d tried telling him to go, but that hadn’t worked. She didn’t know what to do. She felt like she was in the trailer again, being backed into a corner while being told of all her failings. 

“Mummy.” Ebony came into the room, bringing Lex back to the present, though barely.

“Yes?” She said, turning her attention as much as she could to her daughter.

“Who’re the people?” She asked, hugging close to Lex, not sure of what to make of the strangers in the living room.

“They’re your grandparents.” She said slightly reluctantly.

“What’s that?”

“They’re daddy’s mum and dad, which makes them your grandparents.” She explained, brushing back Ebony’s hair.

“Why’re they mean?” She asked tilting her head to the side, glancing at them.

“They don’t like me.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.” She didn’t know exactly why they didn’t like her so much. She knew that Eric at least didn’t like the fact that she grew up in a trailer park, but she didn’t know of any deeper reason.

Ebony wanders straight over to Eric and Larissa. “Why are you mean to mummy?” She asked them.

“Go away, child, none of this concerns you.” Eric said sternly.

“Come back over here, Ebbi.” Lex said, not wanting him to hurt her.

“She does look a lot like him, Eric.” Larissa said softly, watching Ebony closely.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” He said. “I don’t know where that child came from, but she does not belong to Ethan.” He turns back to Lex. “Now you.” He said pointing his finger at her.

“Go back to your room, Ebbi.” She said quickly, gently pushing Ebony in the right direction. She needed to keep her as safe as possible.

She hesitates a moment, studying Lex before going back into her and Hannah’s room.

“This is what you’re going to do. You are going to leave. Now. Take that girl with you and never come back here.” He said.

“No.” She said quietly. She needed to stand up to him, needed to get him to leave. But the walls had started to close in on her again. She was being drawn back into the trailer.

“I beg your pardon?” His tone was harsh. He hadn’t expected her to respond to him it seemed.

She swallows. “No.” She said a little louder. “I’m not leaving. This is my home.”

He grabs the collar of her shirt in his fist. “How dare you talk back to me!”

“Eric, I don’t really think this is necessary.”

“Not now, Larissa!” His attention returns to Lex. “This is not your home. You do not belong here! You are trash. Go back to the trailers you belong in!” He released her with a shove, forcing her to stumble backwards.

Her breath was heaving. She didn’t know what was happening. She didn’t know what to do. Part of her wasn’t sure where she was, and that part seemed to be taking over. Was she still in the trailer? She was being yelled at, so she must be, right? No. She wasn’t there. She was here, in California. Ebony was just in the other room. Ebony had never been to Hatchetfield. If she was here, then Lex must be in California. Right?

“Go back to your filthy trailer and leave my son alone!” He moved towards her.

“No.” She said, glaring at him. She couldn’t leave. She needed to stay. She didn’t want to go he couldn’t make her. She loved Ethan, she loved their life, she wasn’t going to go anywhere. Eric couldn’t make her. 

“I don’t think you understand.” He said in a low threatening voice. “If you don’t go now and give my son his life back, bad things will happen to you and that little girl.” He gestures over in the direction of the girls’ room.

“Don’t you dare hurt her.” Lex would die before she let anything bad happen to Ebony or Hannah or the baby still inside of her.

“That struck a nerve, didn’t it?” He said with a wicked grin. “I could easily arrange to have that child taken away from you, the same goes for that weird sister of yours. If you don’t leave with them now, then you’ll be left alone without them. I’ll give you the choice.” He said the last part as if he was showing her some great act of generosity.

Lex clenched her fists. She would not be separated from her girls and she would not be forced out of her home. She and Ethan had worked so hard to get to where they were and there was no way that she was leaving.

“I’m not going anywhere.” She said. “You’re the one who is going to get out of here.” She takes a step towards him, taking the offensive. She still felt like she was in the trailer, still felt the walls closing in. But the feeling was slowing. She was in California. Ebony was in the other room.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He hadn’t expected her to stand up to him.

“Telling you to leave.”

“You’re not to tell me what to do.” He slaps her.

The walls crash in around her. She takes a few steps backwards, expecting to find her back pressed against the cool metal walls of the trailer. They felt a little sturdier than normal. She couldn’t move. If she tried to leave, then Hannah could get hurt and she couldn’t let that happen. The best thing she could do was stay right where she was and take the beating. Take the yelling. She probably deserved it anyway.


	12. Chapter 62

“Quick. Quick. Quick.” Hannah kept muttering over and over as they drove home.

Ethan could hear the urgency in her voice. At this point he was feeling it too. He’d happily just forgo the speed limit and road rules just to get back to the apartment as soon as possible, but there was no way he could risk getting pulled over. 

He didn’t even know why he wanted to get there so fast. Maybe Hannah was rubbing off on him. 

“Flash!” Hannah yelled grabbing his arm.

He was so startled that he almost swerved into the pavement.

“Come quick. Flash.” She said shaking his arm.

“I’m going as fast as I can, Banana.” He said. For some reason he started to feel slightly panicked. He didn’t know what ‘flash’ meant but he was sure that it happening was bad. Hannah’s mood was rubbing off on him. He’d get home and find everyone to be perfectly fine. Lex was going to laugh at him for being paranoid.

He turned into their building, driving into their apartment’s designated parking space. He couldn’t help but feel relieved to have finally arrived.

Hannah had unbuckled and opened the door before the car had fully come to a stop. She jumped out and began running towards the staircase that lead to their floor.

“Wait up, Banana.” He said, getting out as fast as he could, bringing Hannah’s school bag and the shopping with him. He ran after her all the way to their landing. 

He saw that the front door to the apartment was open. He was overcome with a sense of dread. Lex would never leave the door open like that. She always kept the door locked.

Hannah had stopped running and was standing their looking rather scared. Raised voices could be heard from the direction of the door, one of which he recognised to be Lex’s. The other sounded an awful lot like his dad’s.

“Stay here Hannah.” He said, dropping the bags he was holding and running towards the apartment. 

He made it to the doorway just in time to see he dad strike Lex. Ethan knew what this would do to her. Who knew how long that his dad had been yelling at her, and he knew that anyone yelling at her made Lex feel like she was back in that trailer. Being hit like that paired with the yelling, she was most likely having a flashback and she couldn’t defend herself when she had one. Flash. That’s what it had meant. Flashback. He should’ve known.

“Get away from her!” He shoved his dad away from her. He was angry. How dare his father barge into his home and hurt the love of his life.

“Ethan, thank God you’re here.” Eric said, rather stunned by Ethan’s entrance, though covers it quickly. “Step away from her Ethan. We’ve come to take you home.”

“This is my home.” He glared at his father, placing himself between Eric and Lex. What had he said to her? One glance at her and Ethan knew that the flashback she was having was a bad one. He needed to get his parents to leave so that he could help her. “You need to leave.” He reaches back to take Lex’s hand, but when he touches it she pulls away. He doesn’t know if that means she doesn’t realise who he is or if she’s having trouble remembering him. Either way is bad. He needs his parents to get out so he can properly help her.

“You’re not staying here with that harlot. You are coming back home where you belong.”

“Shut up!”

“Don’t you speak to me that way, boy.” Eric said.

“Shut up. Shut the fuck up. Don’t talk about Lex that way, don’t even think about it. Get out of here and go back to Hatchetfield.” He continued to glare at his father while pointing at the door.

“You don’t belong here Ethan. You need to come with us, we’re your family.” Eric holds his hand out to him.

“You’re not my family. My family is Lex and Hannah and Ebony and the baby. I love them and I’m not leaving them. Ever. Now get out!” He’s had enough of his dad. He turns his full attention to Lex.

Tears are rapidly falling down her cheeks, her breathing rapid. Her eyes are darting around the room, searching for something to help ground her in reality. She’s drowning in memories, not able to find the present.

“Lex, honey, it’s me. It’s Ethan. I’m here.” He takes one of her hands, relieved that she doesn’t pull away. His other hand goes to her cheek, wiping away her tears.

“That’s enough, Ethan. Get away from her.” Eris says.

Ethan ignores him, fully focused on Lex. “You’re safe babe, your mum’s not here. We’re in California.”

“California?” She whispered, trying to sort out where that fit in her memories.

“Yeah, we made it. We’re in California.” 

In the past whenever she’d had a flashback he always had to tell her that they were in California. Though most of her flashbacks only the handful of seconds after a bad dream. Previous to this one, the longest had lasted a minute or two and was a few days after they moved to California. Ethan figured it had lasted so long because one; the memories were so fresh, and two; he didn’t know what was happening or how to help her.

“California’s a dream, Ethan.” She said.

His heart ached for her. She was stuck somewhere in the past and he knew she was trying to come back to the present. There was only so much he could do to help the rest was up to her.

“I said that’s enough.” Eric grabs his shoulder, turning him around. “You are coming home with us. No more arguing.” He begins to drag Ethan towards the door.

“Leave us alone!” He yelled, ripping himself free. As soon as the words left his mouth he knew he shouldn’t have been so loud. Yelling had largely gotten Lex to the state she was in now, and he knew that yelling could easily upset Hannah and Ebony should they be in earshot. 

He turns back to Lex and to his relief hears his mum dragging his dad out of the apartment.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asks her gently, taking her hand again. She seems hesitant to let him. He knew he shouldn’t have yelled.

“Ethan, I’m so… confused.’ She said, a hand going to her head. “Where are we? Who were you yelling at?”

“Where in California.” He begins, but she cuts him off as soon as he says the words.

“We can’t be.”

“We are. I promise we are.” He takes her over to the couch and helps her sit down before sitting next to her.

He heard a high-pitched yelp sound from the corridor outside. He stood straight up knowing it belonged to Hannah. Shit. How could he have forgotten that she was out there, right where his parents were.

“What was that?” Lex asked, not able to fully focus on what was going on around her.

“Stay here. I’ll be right back, okay?” He kissed her cheek before racing out of the apartment.

He found Hannah backed into a corner, clutching onto her braids while his father stood over her. Ethan barges towards him, shoving him out of the way before picking up Hannah and racing back inside, locking the door behind him.

“We’ll be coming back!” His dad yelled through the door. “Maybe next time you would’ve come to your senses.”

“You okay, Banana?” He asked, putting her down.

She nodded.

“Good. Can you go find Ebbi for me please?” He asked. He was pretty sure that the girls, Ebony in particular, would be able to help Lex out of her flashback. 

He goes back over to Lex, crouching in front of her this time. He gently brushes hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. “You’re safe.” He says. “We’re in California.”

Hannah soon comes over with Ebony and sits down on the couch next to Lex. She had never really seen one of her flashbacks but seemed to have some understanding of what was happening. 

Ethan took Lex’s hands. “We’re in California. All of us. You and me.” He squeezes her hands. “And Hannah.” He places one of her hands on Hannah, holding it there until Lex seemed to have registered her. “And Ebony.” He moves her hand onto their daughter. It seemed to take her a little longer to sort through her memories.

“Ebbi.” She says softly, taking an easy breath as she seemed to gain her footing in reality.

“And the baby.” He keeps one of her hands on Ebony, moving the other to her stomach.

Lex closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened her eyes again he could see that the flashback was over, at least for the most part. She’d probably be a little confused over minor details, but she knew where she was. 

“Welcome back, babe.” He smiles at her, relieved.

She smiled back. A few tears were still trickling down her cheek as she remembers what had happened that day.

“Where’d mummy go?” Ebony asked.

“I didn’t go anywhere. I just got a little lost in my memory is all.” Lex said, pulling Ebony onto her lap and kissing the top of her head. She looks over to Ethan. She was worried about what had just happened, scared about what could have happened had he not shown up when he did.

He gives her hands a squeeze, trying to reassure her as best he could. He didn’t want to talk about what had happened in front of the girls.

Hannah, who had snuggled herself into Lex, sat up. “Dad, my bag’s still outside.”

“Oh yeah.” He’d completely forgotten about the bags that he had abandoned earlier. “I’ll go get it for you.” He gives Lex’s hands another squeeze before getting up. He checks to make sure his parents were gone before stepping out into the corridor and picking up the bags. 

“Here you go, Banana.” He said handing over her schoolbag.

She takes it, pulling out her animal encyclopedia. She opens it to a random page and begins reading to Lex about rhinoceroses.

Lex smiles, running a hand over Hannah’s hair before wrapping that arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer and kissing the top of her head. 

Ethan smiles at the sight of his favourite people all cuddled up on the couch together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, this chapter has been in the works for a while. Remember when Ethan's dad was first mentioned? Yeah, this chapter was gonna happen since then. Literally going over the details in my head all day helped me get through my meltdown, because that's what fanfiction does for me.


	13. Chapter 63

For the remainder of the afternoon Lex was able to keep it together, keeping any worries and tears at bay. Though the moment the girls were asleep all of her emotions came pouring out. She slumped on the couch next to Ethan, leaning into him as she began to cry.

He pulls her closer, rubbing her back and kissing the top of her head. “It’s okay.” He says softly. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

She struggles to sit up a little straighter, wiping tears from her cheeks. “I don’t even know if I know what to talk about.” She rests her head in her hands. “My brain’s just a jumble of feelings.”

“Well, if you want to you can talk about your feelings.” He kisses her cheek. “It’s up to you.”

She stayed silent for a while before finally speaking. “I just remember feeling scared and helpless.” She began talking quietly. “I didn’t know what was happening and I couldn’t do anything to protect myself or Ebbi or the baby.” Fresh tears began to fall, and Ethan wiped them away. “They could’ve gotten hurt and I might not have even realised, let alone been able to do something.”

“They’re okay, babe.” He said, holding her close. “You’re all okay.”

“But what if you hadn’t turned up when you did? It could’ve been so much worse. And what if it happens again?” She sat back a little so she could look at him properly. “I could have another flashback, and something could happen to them.”

“You’re not going to have another one, at least not one as bad as that.” He said, trying his best to reassure her.

“You can’t guarantee that. It happened so easily today.” Her exact memory of the events of that afternoon was a little hazy. She remembers the earlier parts but once she started having a flashback it became a mess of confused emotions. “It could just as easily happen again.”

“I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that that never happens.” He cupped her cheek with one hand.

Her hand joins his on her cheek, before pulling his hand away, holding it in her lap. “You can’t stop me having flashbacks, babe.” She says with a shake of her head.

“Well, I’m going to try and keep you away from situations that can lead to them.” He gives her hand a squeeze. “I love you, and I don’t want you to go through a flashback again. I know I can’t stop them when you dream, but I’m going to try my best.”

“I love you too.” She says giving him a soft kiss on the lips. When they break apart she sighs, and leans into him. “Your dad said he was going to come back. The thought of that happening is terrifying to me.”

“I know.” He kisses the top of her head. “But I’m not going to let him get near you or the girls.”

“But what if you’re not there. You were only there today because you were picking up Hannah.”

“It’s me he’s after. He only started going after you because I wasn’t there.”

She nods. “One of the things that scare me the most was the fact that he had our address. If he tracked our phones then he’d know the building, but how did he know which apartment was ours?”

“Maybe he asked the front desk guy?” He said with a shrug. “It doesn’t matter though, because we’ll be moving soon.” He rubs his hands up and down her arms. “Try not to think about him too much though, okay?”

She sighs, resting her forehead against his. “I wish our parents didn’t suck so much.”

“Me too.” He kisses her. “I think we should call it a night and head to bed.” He said.

She nods and together they get up from the couch. It was still relatively early for them to be going to sleep, but it had been a long day, and both were tired, Lex in particular. She normally didn’t really like going to bed early, but she wasn’t going to complain.

It didn’t seem to take Ethan very long to fall asleep once they got into bed. Lex’s mind was too active to let her sleep, despite how tired she was. She just lay there on her back, one hand rubbing her stomach while thinking about everything that had happened or that could happen.

She hated it whenever she had a flashback. Sometimes she wouldn’t even know that they had happened, and only found out about it when Ethan told her. She hated how helpless she’d become.

She turns her head to look at Ethan sleeping peacefully beside her. She loved him but didn’t want to have to rely on him when it came to her flashbacks. She needed to find a way to get herself out of them without him. Though, she had no idea how to accomplish that.

Lex let out a sigh. She kissed Ethan on the cheek before extracting herself from his embrace and getting to her feet. She wonders out of their room and goes into the girls’. Both girls were sound asleep in their beds.

She went first over to Ebony, who was curled up in her cot. She’d need a new bed soon. Lex couldn’t believe how fast Ebony had grown. It felt like only yesterday that she was a tiny baby. She brushes a few curls out of Ebony’s face. She had gotten a lot better at staying in her bed all night, though she would still sometimes come and join Lex and Ethan.

“Mum?” Hannah said sleepily from the other side of the room.

“Go back to sleep, Banana.” She whispered going over to her.

Instead of going back to sleep, she sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, hair sticking up at all angles. “What are you doing?”

“I just wanted to check on you two.” She sits down next to Hannah on the bed.

She nods and leans into Lex, staying like that for several moments before speaking. “Webby said you thought you were in Hatchetfield.”

“Yeah, I did.” She says with a sigh. She didn’t really want to talk about this with Hannah.

“Why?”

“I had a flashback, and that’s what happens when I have one. I forget that we’re in California and think that we’re still in Hatchetfield.” Lex explained.

“But why do they happen?”

“They just do.” She didn’t particularly feel like explaining childhood trauma and abuse to Hannah.

“Did Hatchetfield mum do something to you to make them happen?”

“Hannah, I don’t want to talk about this.”

She turned to face her. “But what if she did it to me too and I start getting flashbacks?”

Lex smoothed down Hannah’s hair, allowing her hands to rest on her shoulders. “She never hurt you the way she hurt me. I don’t think you need to worry about flashbacks.”

“What did she do to you that she didn’t do to me?”

“This is a conversation for when you’re older.” Lex said.

“I’m old enough now.” She said defiantly. “I lived in the trailer too. I want to know what happened there.”

“It’s the middle of the night. It’s not the right time for this.” She said pinching the bridge of her nose.

“I want to know now. Why won’t you tell me?” Hannah grabbed Lex’s arm and shook it.

“Hannah, stop.” She took away her hands and held them in her own. She took a deep breath. “I don’t want to tell you because I don’t want to say it. I don’t want you to know about the awful things that some people can do. I don’t want to think about all the things that happened in that trailer.”

“How much happened that I don’t know about?” She asked quietly.

“A lot. I kept you as far away from all the bad things as I possibly could. I am always going to protect you from the trailer.” Lex said.

“I remember there always being yelling. I remember you crying lots when you thought I was asleep. I remember always being scared when you’d leave the room. She hit you lots, didn’t she?”

Lex nods. “Yeah, she did.”

“Why did she hit you? Why didn’t you try to stop her?”

“I let her hit me so that she wouldn’t hit you. If I had tried to defend myself, she would have made things so much worse.” Every action and decision she made was with Hannah in mind. Her only goal was to keep Hannah as safe as she could in a dangerous and unpredictable environment.

“But why did she hit you in the first place?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she was angry and was just trying to let it out?” Lex sighed. There had been times that there had been a reason for beatings, like Hannah was crying too loudly, or Lex had spoken back to her. For the most part, however, there were no rhyme or reason as to why their mother had done the things she’d done.

“Did she do worse than just hit you?” Hannah seemed a little scared to ask the question, but it was something she felt she needed to know.

“Yes.”

“Like what?” Hannah asked.

Lex thought for a moment before lifting up her shirt sleeve revealing several scars. Some were burns others from cuts. She used to have more, but some had healed over time like all her bruises. There had been a time where her body had been littered in scars and bruises, but thankfully only a few scars remained.

Hannah gently ran a finger over the multitude of scars. She looks up at Lex, her eyes filled with sadness. “I’m sorry she hurt you.”

She smiled, slightly sadly, pulling Hannah into a hug and kissing the top of her head. “Don’t be sorry. I’d let her do it all over again if it meant being able to keep you safe.” She meant those words. She could live with being in pain, but she couldn’t live with Hannah being in pain. She’d learnt that early on. “We’ve come so far, Banana.” She said so softly it was barely audible. They had started life out with nothing, and now here they were living a normal life.

Hannah hummed her agreement. “Do you think we’ll ever go back to Hatchetfield? For a visit?” She asked.

“I don’t think so.” Lex replied. “You can when you’re older if you want to. But I’m never going back there.”

“Do you think you’ll have a flashback if you go there?”

Lex shrugs. “It’s a possibility. But even if I don’t have one, there’s just too many bad memories there.”

“But there were good things there too, right mum?”

“Yes. You and dad.” She said. She couldn’t think of any other good part of Hatchetfield. “Now, I think that’s enough questions for tonight. You need to go back to sleep.” She kisses Hannah’s head before lying her down in her bed, tucking the covers around her. “Good night, Banana.”

“Na-night mum.” She said curling up under her blankets, making herself comfortable.

Lex smiles at her before making her way to the door.

“Mum?”

“Yes?” Lex turned around.

“Thank you.” Hannah said. Thanking Lex for all the things she had ever done for her. For taking care of her, for keeping her safe. For taking all the pain for her.

“Anytime, Hannah.” She blows her a kiss before leaving the room, shutting the door gently behind her. She took a few deep breaths before returning to her own bedroom.

She climbs into bed, snuggling up next to Ethan, trying to get comfortable enough to get to sleep.

Ethan shifts, wrapping his arm around her. “You okay?” He whispers.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She said, resting her head on his shoulder.

“I’m just making sure.” He said. “I heard you talking to Hannah.”

She gives him a confused look.

“Baby monitor.” He says in response.

“Sorry, did we wake you?”

“No.” He said with a shake of the head. “I was already awake. Were you okay with telling her so much?”

“Not really.” She sighs. “I never wanted to tell her any of that stuff. But I told myself that if she asks, I’ll tell her. It is a part of her past. Like it or not she spent the first eight years of her life in that trailer. I’m just glad she doesn’t remember everything that happened.”

Ethan kisses the top of her head, holding her close as he begins to rub her back. “She doesn’t know everything that happened because you did such a good job at protecting her.”

“I could’ve done more.”

“I don’t think you could’ve, babe. You did everything and more. Without you, Hannah wouldn’t even be here right now.” He said, kissing her.

She smiles, leaning into him. “She’s grown up so much. She’s going to be thirteen this year, you know.”

“No.” He said. “I refuse to believe she’s going to be a teenager.”

“I don’t like the idea of it either.” To her, Hannah would always be her little girl. She had taken care of her since the day she was born. She couldn’t believe how much of an amazing person Hannah had grown to be. Part of Lex didn’t want her to grow up anymore, just wanting her to stay little forever. But she was almost the same height as her now, something that Lex didn’t like at all.

Ethan kisses her forehead, breaking her from her train of thought. “You should go to sleep, babe.” He said as she yawned.

She smiled at him, kissing him on the lips briefly. “Night, babe.”

“Night.”


	14. Chapter 64

Lex had started organising the apartment in preparation for moving. She and Ethan had found a place, though the current occupants were going to be there for another two months. She had still thought that it would be useful to start sorting things as well as she could. The fact that when moving she’d be nearly nine months pregnant was a big motivator for organising things now.

Lex had known there would be more to pack then last time, the fact that they’d gained a person in their family suggesting as much. But she was surprised at how many things they’d accumulated since moving to California. They’d arrived with a duffel bag each and that was about it. Now they had so much more stuff that she needed to acquire moving boxes. Most of the stuff came from the girls. Namely birthday and Christmas presents. 

Today she was tackling the girls’ wardrobe. Hannah had a habit of just shoving anything in there and thus, it had become a treasure trove of junk. She’d made piles of school related things, seldom worn clothes, and toys that hardly saw the light of day. She knew she’d keep most of the clothes for when Ebony grew big enough. Some of them, she’d get rid of though, a few having once been hers.

“Hannah.” She called out into the living room where the girls were playing.

“What?” Hannah’s voice sounded back.

“Can you come here and see if you want to keep any of this stuff?” She asked.

Hannah let out a bit of a grumble before meandering into her room.

Lex gestured to the pile of old school assignments and miscellaneous art projects she’d done over their time in California. “Do you want to keep this stuff or throw it out?”

Hannah looked down at them shrugging. “I don’t know.”

“Well, can you go through them and decide what you want to keep and what can be chucked out?” She asked.

“I don’t want to.” She grumbled, pouting.

“It’s not that hard, you can do it. It’ll take you two minutes.”

“If it’s not hard, why don’t you do it?”

“They’re not my things. They’re yours, miss Banana. So, can you sort through them for me, please?” Lex said, patting the floor next to where she was sitting, inviting Hannah to join her.

“But I don’t want to.” She complained. She leans herself over Lex from behind, flopping onto her shoulders.

“Why don’t you want to?” She asks, running her hands up and down Hannah’s arms.

“Because I just don’t, okay?”

“What’s with all the attitude, Hannah?” Lex turns so that she’s facing her.

She stands up straighter, crossing her arms and shrugging, not making eye-contact. 

“Hannah.” She holds out a hand to her.

After several moments, Hannah reluctantly takes the hand and sits down in Lex’s lap.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong?” She asks, hugging Hannah to her.

“Nothing’s wrong.” She mumbles.

“Did you have a bad day at school?” Lex knew that something was bothering Hannah, even if she wasn’t admitting it.

She shook her head.

“Do you not want to move? Is that it?” She asked, knowing that Hannah would have clear memories of the first time they’d moved. She’d started off being so excited, but all too quickly became overwhelmed with such a large amount of change being thrust upon her.

“It’s scary.” She muttered quietly after a few seconds.

“I know it’s scary.” Lex began rubbing her back, hugging her tightly. “But it’s not going to be like last time. We’re not going very far away.”

“Everything’s gonna be in a different spot.”

“Yeah, it’ll look a bit different.” She remembered how much trouble Hannah had with things just looking out of place constantly. She could never find the things she was after and half the time couldn’t articulate what she wanted, which resulted in a lot of frustration. “It’s not going to be super different though. We’ll try and make it look as the same as possible.”

Hannah let out a non-committal hum, starting to play with the ends of Lex’s hair.

“You’re still going to go to the same school. You’ll still be able to go to the park on the weekends. We’re just going to be a few streets away.”

“Going places will change.” She said.

“If you want, we can go places via here.” Lex wanted to try and make the transition to a new place as smooth as possible, and if taking an extra ten minutes to get anywhere prevented panic attacks, she was all for it.

“Can do that?”

“Yes, we can do that if you think that will help.”

Hannah nods and hugs her.

She kisses the top of her head. “Do you think you can sort out your stuff now?”

“Still don’t want to.” She said.

“Come on, I’ll help you.” She pushes Hannah gently to turn her around.

Ebony decided to come see what was happening and began hugging Lex from behind, her arms going around her neck.

“Hi Ebbi.” Hannah said turning back around to face her.

“Hey, no distractions. You’ve got work to do, Banana.” Lex said, trying to turn Hannah back around.

“No thanks.” She said, smiling.

“Well then, I guess I’ll just have to do this.” She began tickling Hannah’s sides, causing her to erupt in laughter.

“No!” She squealed, falling off of Lex’s lap and lying on her back, partially on top of all the things that needed to be sorted. “Stop!” She tried to push away the attacking hands.

“Not until you agree to do you jobs.” She said, not relenting in the tickling.

Ebony was laughing gleefully over Lex’s shoulder when she decided that she wanted to join in on the action.

“No, Ebbi.” Lex said as Ebony began tickling her. “Don’t tickle me, get Hannah.” She tried to pry the two-year-old away from her.

Hannah, seizing the moment of reprieve, got up from the ground, turning her sights to Lex. She too joined in on the tickling. The two of them soon had Lex at their mercy, happily tickling her.

After a few minutes or so, Ethan came home. He hears the commotion from the girls’ room and heads over to investigate. Upon entering the room he found Lex on the floor, laughing to the point that tears were in her eyes as the two girls tickled her ruthlessly.

“What’s going on here?” he asked.

Hannah looks up. “Get him.” She says as she and Ebony leave Lex and come straight towards him. It didn’t take them long to get him to fall to the ground. They piled on top of him, tickling him just as relentlessly as they had done Lex. 

“Help me.” He said reaching towards Lex.

She sat up, shaking her head. “No way, you’re on your own.” She said, laughing a little at him as she gets up from the floor.

“Lex!” He tried to roll over onto his back, so he had a chance at being able to gab the girls.

“I don’t want to get tickled again, sorry.” She said holding her hands up in defence. She didn’t appear overly sorry as she laughed at him struggling.

Gradually he managed to sit up enough to grab the girls, holding them each over one of his shoulder. He got up to his feet, the two girls giggle madly, trying to wriggle free.

“Put us down!” Hannah said lightly hitting his back, though her request is ignored.

“See, you didn’t even need my help.” Lex says smiling at him.

He rolls his eyes before walking over to Hannah’s bed and dropping both girls down onto the mattress.

Hannah grabbed onto his arm, pulling him down onto the bed with them. “You can’t stop us that easily.” She said, doing her very best evil laugh. She climbs on top of him so that he couldn’t get back up, Ebony following her lead.

It was then that Lex decided that she would come to his aid. She went over to where they were all stacked on the bed. While the girls had their backs to her, focused on Ethan, she is able to sneak up on them and starts a tickle attack.

“No!” Hannah cries out through her laughter.

Ethan takes advantage of the momentary distraction and pulls himself out from beneath the girls, causing them to topple back down onto the bed. It’s then that he starts tickling them beside Lex.

“Had enough?” He asks after several minute’s worth of tickling.

Hannah nods exhausted after laughing for so long. Ebony also looks tired but still seems fairly energised, immediately getting to her feet and jumping on the bed. After a few bounces she jumps into Ethan’s arms, hugging him tightly.

“Okay, Hannah, you’ve had your fun, time to sort your stuff.” Lex said, taking Hannah’s hands and trying to tug her into sitting up.

She groans. “But I don’t want to.” She goes floppy to that she couldn’t be pulled up.

“No buts. Come on, it won’t take very long and I’ll even help you.” She said, managing to get Hannah to sit up.

“Can’t we do it tomorrow?” She flops so that she’s now resting heavily against Lex, wrapping her arms around her.

“Nope, I want it done today please.” She tries to get Hannah to stand, but when she’d pulled off the bed, continues to flop so that she’s half hanging off of Lex.

“You gotta stand, Banana, I can’t hold you up.” She said, starting to feel her back muscles pull a bit too much.

Ethan noticed this and wrapped an arm around Hannah, supporting her weight. “Come on, you can stand.” He said.

She grumbled a little, reluctantly activation her muscles and standing on her own. “Still don’t want to.” She mumbles into Lex’s shoulder.

“I know.” She says rubbing her back, kissing the top of her head. “But come and sit with me and we can do it together. All you have to do is say if you want to keep it or not.” She guides Hannah down to the floor, where she sits in Lex’s lap. Lex picked up each mostly paper-based, item and showed it to Hannah who either nodded or shook her head to say whether or not she wanted to keep it.

It didn’t take long for them to finish, just as predicted. They ended with a discard pile and a march larger keep pile. Hannah was apparently rather attached to a number of old assignments, and there were a few that Lex didn’t want to get rid of either.

“Thanks for doing that with me, Banana.” Lex said, kissing the side of her head.

“’s okay.” She says, tugging on one of her braids.

She pushes Hannah off of her lap so that she’s standing, getting up after her. “Let’s go and make sure that dad doesn’t accidentally burn the apartment down while he makes dinner.” She said.

Hannah giggles and happily goes out into the kitchen, where she attaches herself to Ethan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay some light-hearted fun!


	15. Chapter 65

When Ebony woke up, she was alone in the room she shared with Hannah. It always made her a little sad to wake up alone. She yawned and stood up, looking around the empty room. There were several boxes piled in the corner full of things that weren’t used every day.

Ebony had woken up with a fair bit of energy, though she didn’t particularly feel like going anywhere yet. So, she decided the best thing to do was to stay where she was and jump up and down.

She jumped all over the mattress of her cot, the legs of which creaked with each bounce. The creaks began to get louder, though she didn’t pay much attention to them.

She made her jumps bigger, enjoying herself thoroughly. When she landed her last jump, however, some of the screws and wood that held together the cot’s frame gave way, the entire structure collapsing.

She immediately begins to cry and scream.

Lex and Ethan rush in to see what’s happened, Hannah coming along behind them, though a little more reluctant because of the noise.

“Oh no.” Lex said upon seeing the wreckage before her as she goes over and picks up Ebony. “Are you okay, Ebbi? Where does it hurt?”

She doesn’t answer, simply hugging Lex as tears roll down her cheeks.

She kisses the top of her head, rubbing her back as Ethan tries to see if Ebony had any visible signs of injury.

“I don’t think she’s hurt more than a few bruises.” He says, giving the back of Ebony’s head a kiss.

“You’re okay, Ebbi.” Lex says swaying side to side, wiping a few tears from Ebony’s cheeks.

Ethan moves to inspect the damage inflicted upon the cot. He crouches down, lifting up various pieces to see what precisely needed repairing.

“Can you fix it?” Lex asked him. They had planned that when they moved, they would upgrade Ebony to a real bed and use the cot for the baby. If it was broken beyond repair then they would have to get a new one, which wasn’t a cost they had budgeted for.

“Yeah, should be able to.” He said, standing back up. “I don’t know how it could have broken like that though.”

At his words Ebony started to cry harder. She was pretty sure that her jumping had broken it, and she knew she’d get in trouble for it.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Lex said, rubbing Ebony’s back. “Dad’s gonna fix your bed.” She wipes away more tears.

She buries her face into Lex’s shoulder clutching onto a chunk of her hair. 

“Let’s go get you some breakfast, how does that sound?” She kisses the top of Ebony’s head before turning to Ethan. “Can you finish getting Hannah ready for school please, babe?” 

“Yeah, sure.” He says, coming over to them and kissing the back of Ebony’s head before he kisses Lex on the lips. He wants to make Ebony feel better but knows that there wasn’t really much he could do. He felt that the probable main cause of her distress was just the surprise of her bed collapsing while she was still in it. He was pretty sure that she had been doing something that could have led to such an event, seeing as sleeping shouldn’t cause a previously sturdy cot to come tumbling down. He knows she’ll feel better in her own time, so he goes to go help Hannah get ready for school.

Hannah had been hovering by the bedroom door, not wanting to get too close to the noise of ebony crying yet wanting to know what was happening. She still didn’t really know what had happened apart from the cot being broken. “Ebbi okay?” She asked as Ethan guided her back out into the living room so she could finish packing her schoolbag which was sitting by the front door.

“Yeah, she’ll be okay.” He said. “Have you got everything you need for school? You’ve got that test today, don’t you?”

She nods. “Don’t wanna do it.” She shoves her lunchbox into the bag and forcing the zipper to close.

“Yeah, I don’t blame you, tests aren’t fun.”

“They’re too hard.” She said. Hannah always had a hard time with tests, as she struggled to properly understand her teacher during class. With assignments she was able to work on them at home where Lex and Ethan could help her. But with tests she was on her own.

“Yeah, but your teacher’s gonna give you extra time so you can spend as long as you need to on your test.” He said, trying to reassure her. He had never been particularly good with tests either, not caring enough about his grades to go to the effort of studying. Lex was better at them, though she didn’t have time to study and her grades suffered because of it. Neither of them cared what Hannah’s grades were, but they wanted her to try her best. They would be proud of her no matter what.

Ethan checks the time on his phone and sees that they need to be leaving. “We gotta go now, so run and grab your shoes please.”

She drags her feet as she goes back into her bedroom, soon returning with her shoes. She sits in the middle of the living room floor, shoving her feet into them. She wasn’t in the most relaxed of moods, due to her upcoming test and all of Ebony’s screaming from earlier. She always had to concentrate when it came to tying her shoelaces, but today they kept tangling together and she couldn’t undo the knots. She grew increasingly frustrated. 

“Do you want help?” Ethan asked, noticing that she was making more useless knots than progress.

She ignores him, continuing to struggle.

“Hey.” He says crouching down in front of her. “Let me help.” He carefully takes hold of her hands moving them away before quickly undoing the knots and tying the laces properly. “There you go.”

She looks at the shoelaces for a few seconds before getting to her feet and picking up her schoolbag. She takes hold of his hand as he too stands.

“Bye ladies.” He says to Lex and Ebony who were in the kitchen.

“Bye you two, have a good day.” Lex says before turning to Ebony. “Do you wanna say bye to Hannah and dad?”

She was eating a piece of banana and had stopped crying at this point, though was still a bit upset. She rests her head on Lex’s shoulder and waves a hand at them.

Ethan pulls a funny face at Ebony, causing her to elicit a giggle.

“Daddy’s silly.” She said.

“Yes, he is.” Lex said, kissing the top of her head.

* * *

That evening Ethan was sat on the floor in the middle of the girls’ bedroom working on putting back together the cot. During the day Lex had sorted out all the bits and pieces so all he had to do was screw it all together. 

Hannah was leaning her back against his, reading through one of her many adventure books. She hadn’t been in the best of moods since returning home from school. He figured it was most likely due to the test she’d had that day.

Ebony was trying to help him reassemble the cot. Sometimes she would sit in his lap and watch him put bits and pieces together, others she would grab bits of wood and try to get them to stick together.

“Here, daddy.” She said, handing him two parts that didn’t fit together at all.

“Thanks, kiddo.” He took them from her and put them beside him as he continued to screw together the pieces he was working on. The larger part of the frame hadn’t been broken apart. It was mostly the base that had come apart from Ebony’s extensive jumping on it.

“Dad, what’s this word?” Hannah asked.

“Which word?” He turns, taking the book from her.

She points out the word she doesn’t know.

“Negligible.” He says, reading it out loud.

“But what does it mean?”

“It’s something so small it’s not worth acknowledging.” He said, hoping he was explaining the word correctly.

“Okay.” She takes the book back from him and continues reading, being sure to keep her back pressed up against him.

“Daddy, look.” Ebony said. She’s holding up two pieces of wood and when he turns to fac her, she begins bashing the pieces together.

Hannah drops her book, using her hands to cover her ears.

“That’s a bit loud, Ebbi.” He says, taking the wood away from her.

She is not deterred and grabs more wood, banging it together, seemingly to enjoy the noise it made.

“Ebbi!” Hannah said, not liking the noise one bit. She rips one of the wooden pieces out of Ebony’s hand and throws it to the other side of the room. 

“Hannah, was that a good way to react?” Ethan said, pulling Ebony onto his lap so that she wouldn’t start banging more wood together. He also grabbed hold of Hannah’s hand so that she wouldn’t be throwing more wood.

She glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest, despite him holding on to her.

“What should you have done?” He asks, unfazed by her glare.

“Not throw.” She muttered.

“And if someone’s doing something you don’t like; what should you do?”

“Ask them to stop.” She grumbled, looking down at the floor. She knew what she was supposed to do, but she just acted without thinking. She just wanted Ebony to stop making that noise and wanted that to happen as fast as possible.

“Good girl.” He gave her a smile. “Do you wanna go back to your book?”

She nods and resumes leaning against him and reading her book.

It wasn’t five minutes later that Ebony managed to get her hands on more wood, and once again began hitting the pieces against one another.

Immediately Hannah turned and snatched the wood, throwing it away. “Stop!” She yelled. She instantly realised that she wasn’t supposed to react that way and knew she’d get told off. 

“Hannah.” Ethan began.

She let out a frustrated scream. Grabbing her book, she stormed out of the room.

“Hannah!” He called after her.

She ignored him, stomping her way into the living room, plonking herself down on the couch. She doesn’t notice Lex packing things into boxes as she opens up her book, trying to read it. Her mind wasn’t able to focus on the words so the let out another frustrated scream, slamming the book shut. She picks it up and starts to hit her head with it.

“Woah.” Lex said coming over and gently taking the book away and holding Hannah’s hands. “What’s wrong, Banana?”

“Stupid. Idiot.” She said, trying not to cry.

“What do you mean?” Lex asked softly, brushing hair out of her face.

Hannah didn’t know how to vocalise everything. She didn’t think she would be able to get out a functional sentence. She shook away Lex’s hands and began signing to her. Telling her about how hard her test was, even though it seemed so easy to everyone else. How she had heard people talking about how easy it was, making her feel stupid because she’d struggled so much with it. About how all the noise from Ebony was frustrating her and how she had responded, even after Ethan had told her not to. How that made her an idiot.

“You’re not stupid, Hannah.” Lex said, wiping away a tear from her cheek. “You’re not an idiot.”

“Am.”

“No, you’re not.” She holds Hannah’s face in her hands. “You are so smart and clever. You’re the smartest kid I know. The way of the world is working against you, but you are still moving forward. You are still learning new things. There are people out there who don’t believe that autistic people can be taught. But you disprove that every day. You are so smart, Hannah. Just because things are harder for you, or it takes you a little longer to learn something doesn’t make you any less clever. In fact, I think the fact that things are harder for you and you can still achieve them means you are smarter than average. You’re amazing, Hannah.” She smiles at her.

“Still gonna get in trouble for throwing.” She said.

“You know that you’re not meant to throw things, sometimes you just forget and act on impulse. You know what you did was wrong. I don’t think you need to get in trouble.” Lex said. She tried to only get Hannah in trouble when she did something wrong that she thought was right. She knew how stressful the thought of being in trouble was to Hannah, so only put her through it when absolutely necessary. 

“Promise?”

“Promise.” She said, giving Hannah’s hand a squeeze. “But you need to promise to try not to throw things when you’re frustrated.”

“I promise.”

“Now, I think you should go and apologise to dad and Ebbi for getting frustrated with them, okay?”

“But Ebbi was making a bad noise.” Hannah said.

“Did she know that the noise was upsetting you?”

“No.”

“Well, then I think you know what to do.” Lex said, standing up from where she had been crouched in front of Hannah.

“Come too?”

“Yes, I can come with you.” She took her hand and the two of them walked over to the bedroom.


	16. Chapter 66

The day for moving apartments had finally arrived. The last few essentials had been packed into bags and the whole lot had been shoved into the car along with several boxes. It took two trips to transport everything.

Ethan and Hannah had worked together to carry the boxes from the old apartment to the car and then into the appropriate rooms of the new apartment. Lex, who had been forbade from lifting boxes, was spending her time sorting through the various boxes and bags, putting as much away as she could. Before packing up the old apartment, she’d taken photos of every room so that she could make the new one look as similar as possible. Ebony was happily running around, making a mess wherever she went.

When it came to setting up the bedrooms, Lex and Ethan had planned for each girl to have their own room and then Ebony would eventually start sharing with the baby. The girls had firmly disagreed on that plan and had insisted on continuing to share.

“You sure you don’t want your own space, Banana?” Lex asked.

“I’m sure. I like sharing with Ebbi cause we’re best friends.” She said, grabbing Ebony and giving her a hug.

“I thought you and Cody were best friends.”

“You can have more than one best friend, mum.” She said before running off to grab a few more boxes, Ebony running after her.

It had always made Lex so happy to see how well the girls got along. They were always playing with each other.

She moved on to a box that was filled with a surprising number of framed photos. She hadn’t realised how many they had until she packed them all away. They were mostly of the girls. As she found a place for each one, she took her time looking at them. One of her favourites was of Hannah holding Ebony right after she was born. She wished she had baby photos of Hannah, but she didn’t have access to a camera until Hannah was four.

She picked up a set of three photos from that time. One was of her and Hannah, another of Hannah and Ethan. The third was her favourite. It was of the three of them. They’d propped the phone they were using up on a bunch of books and pillows, setting it on a timer. Lex had sat with Hannah in her lap, tickling her to make her smile, Ethan sitting next to them. Right as the photo was taken, he had kisses Lex on the cheek, allowing the camera to capture her surprise and delight.

She firmly believed that it was that kiss on the cheek that had led to their eventual dating.

Much as she loved those particular photos, she couldn’t let herself look at them for too long. If she studied them too much then she noticed the dark circles beneath her eyes, the bruises and burns peeking out from the collar of her shirt, the hint of sadness and pain in her eyes.

She quickly unpacked the remainder of the photographs, looking back to the reference photo she’d taken to make sure they were all lined up in the same order. She didn’t much care for what arrangement they were in but knew that anything out of place could easily upset Hannah, and she wanted to make this transition as smooth as possible.

So far Hannah had done really well. She’d been a bit nervous, but it seemed giving her a job to do helped her adjust as she was doing the moving herself and not just floating around the space like she had been last time.

“Mum, I can’t find my animal book.” She said coming over to her. It seemed that she and Ethan had brought in the last of the boxes and now she was starting to unpack.

“Well, what box did you put it in?” Lex asked.

“Can’t remember.”

“Have you looked in all the boxes in your room?” She asked. She couldn’t remember which box the animal encyclopedia had been put in. She wasn’t even sure if it had been put in a box.

Hannah nods.

“Did you have it in the car with you or in your last-minute bag?”

She shrugs.

“Well, how about you go have a look there, and come back if you still can’t find it.”

“Okay.” She raced off to continue looking.

Lex Finished off the box she was working and moved onto hers and Ethan’s room. Neither of them had a ton of clothes, so it didn’t take her long to put all the items in the wardrobe and chest of drawers. 

She went on to a box that contained a bunch of keepsakes, namely the memory boxes for Hannah and Ebony. She grabbed them and stood on tiptoe, reaching up to put the on the shelf that ran along at the top of the wardrobe. The muscles of her stomach stretched a little painfully, causing her to grimace slightly as she reached for the shelf.

“What did I say about you lifting boxes.” Ethan said, pointing at her accusatorially as he entered the room.

“You said not to lift the moving boxes. These aren’t moving boxes, so I’m in the clear.” She said, coming down from trying to get the boxes onto the shelf. 

“Don’t think I didn’t see that pained look you had just now. Let me put those up there.” He comes over and takes the memory boxes from her, putting them away on the shelf. “Anything else you want up there?”

“Yeah, some old clothes of the girls’ that I want to save, but I think that box got put in their room. I’ll go grab it.” She goes to leave the room.

“Hey, not so fast. You point out which box it is and I’ll carry it here and put the stuff away. You’re not lifting anything heavy.” He said.

“I can carry a bunch of clothes, Ethan.”

“Well, I’m not going to do it for you anyway.” He said, smiling sweetly at her.

She rolled her eyes at him as the two of them walked out of their room. On the journey to the girls’ room they come across Hannah who was riding her bike throughout the living room.

“Hannah.” Lex said sternly.

She looked like a deer caught in the headlights, and quickly jumped off her bike, allowing it to go crashing to the floor.

“What were you doing?”

“Bike riding.” Hannah muttered.

“And where are you allowed to ride your bike?” Lex asked.

“At the park.”

“And, where are you?”

“Not at the park.”

“So, go put your bike away please. You know you’re not allowed to ride it inside.” She says.

Hanna picks her bike up from the floor. “Was putting it away but couldn’t find the lock.” She said. “Still can’t find my animal book too.”

“Do you know where the bike lock is?” She asked Ethan, knowing that he was the one to have unlocked the bike in the first place.

“Yeah, I think it’s still in the car.” He said, trying to remember if that was indeed where he had left it.

“Can you go find it please? And check for Hannah’s book while you’re there.”

“Sure thing.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek before fishing the car keys out of his pocket and heading towards the front door. “No lifting boxes while I’m gone.” He called over his shoulder.

She stuck her tongue out at his retreating back before going into the girls’ room. Upon entering the room, she found it to be a complete mess. Ebony had decided to help unpacking by opening random boxes and throwing the contents onto the floor.

“Ebbi.” She sighed.

Ebony looked up from the mess she had created, smiling widely.

“We’ve got to clean all this up, okay? Can you find which toys are yours and put them away please?” She said, sitting herself down on the ground refold and sort out all the clothes.

Ebony picked up a few of her toys, though instead of putting them away, she sat down in the corner, beginning to play with them. It wasn’t what Lex had asked her to do but it was better than making a mess everywhere.

Hannah then came into the room. “Why’s everything everywhere?” She asked.

“Ebony tried to do some unpacking.” Lex explained. “Can you grab your toys and put them away please?”

She nodded and started picking up the toys that belonged to her while Lex continued to sort through all the clothes. She made three piles, one for Ebony, one for Hannah and the third was for all the things that didn’t either of them and were to be used as hand-me-downs later.

When finished she dumped the third pile into a box so that it could be taken back to her room. Ebony’s pile she put away in a chest of drawers. “Hannah, those are your clothes, you can put them away when your done with the toys.” She said, before grabbing the box and taking it out of the room. It had a few books and other things in it, so she couldn’t actually lift it, so instead dragged it across the ground.

“Hey, no moving the boxes.” Ethan said, spotting her as he re-entered the apartment.

“You said no lifting, I’m dragging this box.” She said, standing up straight, rubbing her lower back, which had protested a bit to manoeuvring a heavy object bent over as she was.

“Whatever. How about you go lock up the bike and I’ll take this to our room.” He said, forcing the bike lock into her hand before picking up the box before she could protest.

“Fine.” She said, going out onto the balcony and locking the bike to the railing. She looked out over the new view they had. It was basically the same as the one they’d had before, just from a different angle. 

She grimaced slightly as the baby kicked her hard in the ribs. She rubbed a hand over her stomach, hoping the baby might calm down a bit. This baby moved around and kicked a lot more then Ebony had. She was starting to think that maybe Ethan was right, and this baby was a boy. Or a future soccer player at the very least.

The baby kicked her again.

“Hey, take it easy on your poor mum.” She said quietly, continuing to rub her stomach. 

When the baby continues to move around, she lets out a sigh and heads back inside. She checks on the girls before heading over to hers and Ethan’s room. She finds the girls curled up together on Ebony’s new big girl bed giggling away. She decides to leave them be and not give them any more jobs. Hannah had been helpful all day helping out with moving all the boxes and she deserved a rest and a chance to play.

When she went into their room, she found Ethan putting the things from the box he’d taken from her onto the shelf at the top of their wardrobe.

“These were the clothes you were talking about putting up there, right?” He asked.

“Yep.” She said, sitting down on the bed, looking at what the books in the box were.

Ethan turns from putting things away to look at her. “Do you wanna have a lie down for a bit? You’re looking pretty tired.”

“No, I’m fine.” She said, picking up various books trying to figure out which room they belonged in. They were mostly books pertaining to the girls.

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. I want to get as much put away as possible today.” She said. She mainly wanted to know where everything was so she could find things that she needed.

“Okay, but you should at least take a break at some point.” He said, going back to the clothes.

“I will.” They both knew she wouldn’t take a break until she either ran out of things to do, or Ethan made her. 

She winced briefly as the baby kicked her particularly hard.

“Are you okay?” Ethan asked, having spotted the momentary look of pain.

“Yeah, the baby’s just kicking really hard.” She said, rubbing her stomach once more.

He comes over and sat beside her, placing a hand on her stomach. He leans forward so that his face is close to the baby. “You gotta be nice to your mum, kiddo.” He said.

Lex feels the baby stop in its kicking and movement, growing calmer. “I think the baby likes you already.” She says, leaning into him.

“The kid’s got good taste.” He said.

She shoves him lightly, before going back to leaning into him.

He laughs and kisses her cheek. “Not much longer now and we’ll be able to meet the little guy.” He said.

“Yeah. Ebbi’s birthday is next week and then three weeks after that this baby will be born.” She closes her eyes and rests her head on his shoulder. Maybe she did need a nap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got a few plot lines in my head that I'm really excited to start writing, one of them starts in the next chapter. It's gonna be good.


	17. Chapter 67

The week before her due date, the doctor had put Lex on bed rest, something she wasn’t at all happy about. She was now twelve days overdue and quite fed up with the whole situation. She hated not being allowed to do everything that she’d normally be able to do and was annoyed at Ethan for enforcing the doctor’s orders. She was more than ready for the baby to be born.

It was early on a Saturday morning, and she was lying in bed. Ethan had already gotten up to get the girls fed and was now re-entering the room. He had an odd look on his face that Lex couldn’t quite figure out and became even more confused when he started pulling on his shoes.

“Where are you going?” She asked, propping herself up on her elbows.

“I thought it would be nice to give you a little bit of quiet time and take the girls out for a bit.” He said hurriedly, not making eye contact with her.

Something was up.

“At seven in the morning?”

“Yeah.” He glances at her quickly, trying to see if she was buying his story.

She wasn’t. “What are you actually doing?”

“Going out with the girls.” He stood up, having put on his shoes and was now moving towards the door.

“Tell me what’s going on.” She demanded sitting up properly against the headboard.

“That is what’s going on. I’ll see you later. Love you. Bye.” He ducked out of the room.

“Ethan! Get back here and tell me what you’re up to.” She shouted after him.

Reluctantly he stuck his head back through the door. “I’ve really gotta get going, babe. I’ll tell you later.”

“So, you’re really just going to leave me here? I could literally go into labour at any moment, and you’re just going off somewhere and not going to tell me where?” She gave him a look.

“Yeah.” He said sheepishly, still trying to leave.

“Ethan!”

“I’m sorry.” He said, seeming to cave. “I just didn’t want to worry you.”

“Well, I’m worried now.” She didn’t know what it was that she was worrying about, but she was most certainly concerned by Ethan hiding something from her.

“See, this is why I didn’t want to say anything.”

“Tell me.”

He sighed. “Hannah’s gone off on another adventure.”

“What!” She starts getting out of bed. She needed to find Hannah and make sure she’s okay.

He pushes her gently back on to the bed. “You’re on bedrest, babe.” He said. “I’m gonna go find her and we’ll be back in no time.”

“I’m not just gonna sit here doing nothing while she’s missing.” She pushed past him and started getting herself dressed as quickly as she could.

“You gotta sit back down.” He said, trying to guide her back to bed, but she continued brushing him off. “You can’t get too stressed.”

“I’m already stressed, Ethan. I’m gonna be stressed no matter where I am. So, I’m gonna go and look for Hannah.” She said determinedly.

He knew that he wasn’t going to win this argument. “Fine, you can come, but you need to tell me if something happens with the baby. The moment it happens. If you go into labour you need to tell me, okay?”

“Fine. Let’s get Ebbi and get going.” She said, already heading out the door.

* * *

Hannah knew that she’d most likely get in trouble for going out on another adventure. It wasn’t her fault though. Webby told her that she needed to. It was all a part of May flowers. 

So, early that morning she had left the apartment building. She had headed straight for the park. It wasn’t too far away so she’d gotten there pretty quickly. Now she just needed to wait.

She knew that her missing would’ve been noticed by now. It was only a matter of time until she was discovered, though it needed to happen at just the right time.

The park was likely to be a place that Lex and Ethan would think to search early on so she would need to hide from them if it wasn’t the right time. She didn’t want to hide from them, but it was all a part of May flowers.

She couldn’t let May flower down.

She started to swing on the swing set. She always enjoyed the swings and it was something to keep herself occupied while she waited. She still had a few hours to go until it was the right time.

“Hannah?”

She looked up at the sound of her name. She’d been there on the swing set for about half an hour at this point.

Cody came over to her waving. He walked his bike over to the swings sitting down on the one next to her.

“What are you doing here?” She asked him. She hadn’t expected to see him. She’d only planned for Lex and Ethan.

“I’m always here Saturday morning. I ride my bike and mum walks the dog and we meet here.” He explained. “What are you doing here?”

“Webby told me to come because of May flowers.” She said. Cody knew all about Webby and a bit about May flower.

“Do your parents know you’re here?” He knew that Hannah wasn’t allowed to go out on her own.

She shook her head. “They can’t know where I am yet.” She didn’t like having to keep them in the dark, but she had to. Webby said so. “How long till your mum gets here?”

He shrugs. “Probably half an hour.”

She knew that Sandra would ring Lex if she saw Hannah unaccompanied. Hopefully it took her a while to realise that Lex and Ethan didn’t know that Hannah was there and wouldn’t call them straight away. She needed as much time at the park as possible. She didn’t want to mess up May flowers.

* * *

They decided that going to the beach would be the best place to look first. They were thinking that Hannah would have wanted to try and continue the adventure she had started last time.

“Do you have any idea how long she’s been gone?” Lex asked as they were driving to the beach.

He shook his head. “No. She was gone when I woke up and Ebbi didn’t see her leave.”

“May flowers.” Ebony said from the backseat.

“I hope she’s okay.” Lex said, scanning the pavement beside the road to see if Hannah was there.

“She will be.” He said, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. “She was fine last time, remember?”

“That doesn’t mean everything will be fine this time.” She sighs. She hated not knowing where Hannah was and whether or not she was okay.

She winced, letting out a small pained noise as the muscles of her stomach tightened suddenly.

“What was that? Are you okay?” Ethan asked, tossing her concerned glances.

“It was just a cramp.” She said, adjusting herself in her seat.

“Not a contraction?”

“No.” She reassured him. “My body’s just getting ready for the real deal.” They needed to find Hannah fast. She knew that Ethan would want to take her straight to the hospital as soon as she went into labour. She didn’t want to be there not knowing where Hannah was.

They were soon at the beach. Ethan parked the car and climbed out.

“You two stay here.” He said in a way that left little room for arguing. “I’m gonna run up along the river and see if she’s there and then I’ll come right back.”

“I’m coming.” Lex said, starting to unbuckle her seatbelt, but he stopped her.

“No, stay here. Sorry babe, but I’ll be faster if it’s just me. I’ll be back soon. I’ll text you if I find her, okay?” He said.

She sighed. “Find her.” She knew that Ethan would be faster without her and Ebony slowing him down, she just hated not being as useful as she’d normally be. 

She was growing more and more anxious sitting in the car waiting. Ethan had yet to text her and she was starting to think that Hannah wasn’t there at all and was somewhere else. They were wasting time here. Hannah needed to be found.

Suddenly a sharp pain washed over Lex. It was definitely more than just a cramp.

“May flowers, mummy.” Ebony said.

She took a few deep breaths as the pain subsided. “What about May flowers, Ebbi?” She said, closing her eyes and rubbing her stomach.

“Coming soon.” She said happily.

“Yeah, well the first of May is tomorrow.” She replied. She wasn’t entirely sure if the pain she had just felt was a real contraction or just a practice one. She had had practice contractions in the past so she was pretty sure she knew which it was. She couldn’t be one hundred percent certain, however, until her water broke. And that couldn’t happen before she knew where Hannah was.

She checked the time. Ethan had been gone twenty minutes. It had taken them about an hour to walk the length of the river until they found Hannah the first time she’d gone on an adventure. She figured that Ethan would probably go at least that far. Even with him running, he wouldn’t likely have reached that point yet.

She hated waiting like this.

“What are you up to back there, Ebbi?” Lex asked turning in her seat so she could see her daughter.

Ebony was playing with Hannah’s dog plushie that had been left in the car. “Woof, woof.” She said holding it out for Lex to see.

She smiled and lightly patted the toy on its head. “What a good dog you have there.”

Ebony giggled and continued playing her own little game with the toy.

Thirty more minutes went past. She was sure that Ethan should be back soon, or at least have texted her. He hadn’t. All she knew was that he hadn’t found Hannah. She had had another pain in that time, and very much wanted to get moving.

Then her phone began to ring. She picked it up immediately, expecting it to be Ethan, but it wasn’t.

“Hi Lex.” Sandra said over the line. “Random question, but do you know where Hannah is?”

She sat up straighter. “Do you know where she is? We’ve been looking all over for her.”

“Yeah, she’s at the park. Ran across her when Cody and I went on our usual bike ride and dog walk.”

“Thank goodness you found her!” Lex let out a sigh of relief. Hannah was okay. She was safe and she was with Sandra. “Keep her with you, we’ll be there soon.”

“Will do.”

She hung up and quickly phoned Ethan. “I know where Hannah is!” She said as soon as he picked up.

“What? Where is she?” He said. He sounded very much out of breath, having been running for quite a while.

“She’s at the park. Sandra found her. Hurry up and get back here so we can go get her.” She hoped he wasn’t too far away.

“Okay, I’ll be there soon.” He hung up and as soon as he did Lex cramped up once more rather badly.

Ethan wasn’t too far away as it happened and was back at the car within a few minutes, well out of breath. He quickly starts the car and they’re driving towards the park.

On the way Lex had another pain but managed to keep it hidden from Ethan. She didn’t need him worrying about her when they needed to get to Hannah.

It didn’t take long for them to get to their destination. They quickly climbed out of the car, Ethan grabbing Ebony, and hurried over to where Hannah, Sandra and Cody were by the playground.

“Hannah!” Lex said, moving as fast as she could to grab Hannah and pull her into a tight hug. “I was so worried about you.”

“Sorry.” She said, hugging Lex back.

“You know you’re in trouble, right?” She said as Ethan and Ebony came over to them.

She nods, looking down at her feet. “Are we going home now?”

“Not just yet. You and Ebbi are going to hang out with Sandra and Cody for a little while.” She says. “Because I’ve gone into labour and me and dad need to get to the hospital.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't sure if I was going to get this up today, but I had a meltdown so I ended up writing instead of watching a bootleg with my sister.


	18. Chapter 68

“Lex! You were meant to tell me when you went into labour.” Ethan said.

“Well, I’m telling you now. Let’s go.” She said.

“You were meant to tell me the moment it happened.”

“You weren’t there.” She told him.

“You could’ve called me.”

“We needed to find Hannah. And now that we know where she is, we can go off to the hospital.” She said, turning him around and giving him a gentle push towards the car. “You two be good.” She said, turning back to face the girls. “I love you. And thanks for watching them, Sandra. And for finding Hannah.”

“No worries, you two get going.” Sandra said.

“How long have you been in labour for?” Ethan asked as they walked towards the car.

“About an hour.”

“An hour!”

“Yes, an hour. But it’s just been contractions, my water hasn’t broken or anything, so it’s not like we need to hurry.” Just as she finished her sentence another contraction hit. She stopped walking, bending over a little, one hand to her stomach.

“Well, we can hardly dawdle. You really should have told me.” He said, continuing towards the car, not having noticed her contraction.

“Can we argue about this later?” She said through gritted teeth.

He spun around and saw her bent over in pain and rushed over to her. “Lex, did your water just break?” He asked noticing a puddle at her feet.

“Uh-huh.” She said, nodding.

“Right.” He said, the fact that the baby was coming only just now hitting him. “Let’s get you to the hospital.” He wraps one arm around her, the other taking her hand as he helps her the rest of the way over to the car. 

Once inside the car, he continues to hold on to her hand as they begin the drive to the hospital.

“I would’ve kept looking for Hannah, you know.” He said quietly.

“I know.” She said, looking straight at the road in front of them. “I was scared you’d take me to the hospital and leave me there while you kept looking. And I really don’t want to be there alone.”

He glances over at her, giving her hand a squeeze. “I wouldn’t have just left you there.” He wished he could give her a hug and properly reassure her.

“Logically I know that. But that fear was just there, and I needed to make sure that Hannah was okay.” A tear trickled down her cheek. She quickly wiped away, but more fell. “I’m really scared, Ethan.” She looked over at him. “What if the baby dies.”

“Hey, don’t think like that, the baby’s okay.” He gives her hand another squeeze before moving their joined hands to her stomach. “Can you feel the baby moving?”

“Yeah.”

“That means the baby is alive. We’re going to go to the hospital and you’re going to give birth to a beautiful, healthy and happy baby, okay?”

“Okay.” She says shakily before succumbing to another contraction. “Ethan.” She squeezes his hand, the other gripping onto the edge of her seat.

“I’m right here, babe.” He said. “We’re almost there, just a few more minutes.”

He soon turned the car onto the correct street and into the hospital’s complex maze of buildings. They got lucky and found a carpark fairly quickly and it wasn’t too far away from the maternity building. Together, they made their way inside and were quickly given a room.

* * *

Sandra had let them play on the playground for a bit longer before it was time to go home. Well, to her home.

Ebony walked alongside Hannah, holding onto her hand. She wasn’t quite sure of what was going on. 

“’Nana, where’s mummy and daddy?” She asked.

“They’re at the hospital.” She said. “Mum’s having the baby. May flower, remember.”

“May flower soon?”

“Soon.” Hannah said with a nod.

“You excited to be a big sister, Ebbi?” Cody asked from where he was walking on Hannah’s other side, pushing along his bike.

“’Nana’s the big sister.” She said.

“Yeah, she’s your big sister. But you’ll be the baby’s big sister.” He said.

“Oh.” She said. “Will ‘Nana be baby’s sister too?”

“Yeah, I’ll be big sister to both of you.” Hannah said. “And when the baby’s big enough they can play with us as well.”

“Yay!” She bounced up and down. Maybe she’d be able to play with the baby while Hannah was away at school. She liked playing with Lex, but she had to work and do jobs. Ebony didn’t mind playing by herself, but it would be so much more fun to have another person to play with.

In her excitement, she tripped over an uneven bit of pavement. She fell, landing hard on the ground, beginning to cry immediately.

“Mum, Ebbi fell over.” Cody said, going to fetch Sandra so she could deal with the situation.

Hannah just stood next to the still fallen over Ebony, not sure what to do. She wanted to help her, but the crying noise was making her rather anxious and she didn’t have her headphones on her.

Sandra caught up to them rather quickly and picked Ebony up. “Did you fall over, Ebbi?”

She nods, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Want mummy.” She said.

“I know, you can be with mummy soon, okay?” She rubs her back, trying to comfort her.

Ebony sniffles and hugs onto Sandra. She’d have to do until she was back with Lex.

* * *

The clock had just struck midnight as Lex gave one final push and the baby was born, screaming loudly.

She was slumped back in the bed, exhausted. Though she quickly shuffled herself into a more upright position as the midwife approached with the newborn.

“Congratulations, it’s a girl.” The midwife says, placing the baby in Lex’s awaiting arms.

“Hi.” She whispered, running a hand along the baby’s soft head, who quickly stopped crying.

“You are amazing, babe.” Ethan says kissing her cheek. “She’s perfect.” He looked down in awe at his daughter. 

She looked up at her parents with wide brown eyes.

“Do you want to hold her?” Lex didn’t want to let go of the baby, but she’d been carrying her for nine months, she could let Ethan have a turn.

“Absolutely.” He said, taking her from lex’s arms, sitting down on the bed next to her. “Hey little one.” He whispers. “I’m your dad, and I love you so much.” He kisses the few wispy brown curls on top of her head.

Lex leans into him, resting her head on his shoulder, watching the interaction. She felt like she could sleep for a year, but she didn’t want to miss anything.

“And I love your incredible mum.” He said, turning from the baby to Lex. He gives her a long and loving kiss. “I mean it, babe. You’re incredible and I love you.”

“I love you too.” She returns the kiss, though this one isn’t as long. “I love our baby too.” She smiles down at the newborn in his arms. 

“She looks so much like you.” He said.

“Well, I think she looks like you.” Lex said, resting her head back on his shoulder.

The baby begins to fuss, squirming around in her blanket and crying softly.

“I think she might be hungry.” Ethan said, passing her back to Lex.

“I think you’re right.” She said, beginning to feed the baby who quickly calmed down. She kisses the top of her head.

The baby soon finished and fell asleep, resting her head against Lex’s chest.

“You should probably get some sleep too, babe.” He said softly, kissing the side of her head.

“Not yet. I want to watch her sleep for a bit.” She said.

“Okay.” He wraps an arm around her, both of them slumping back against the pillows, half lying down.

“I can’t wait for the girls to meet her.”

“Me neither. I’ll ask Sandra to bring them in the morning.” He said.

“What’s the time now?” She asked, realising that she had had no concept of time throughout their entire time at the hospital. All she knew was that they’d been there long enough for it to get dark outside.

“Almost 1:00 AM.” He said, checking his phone.

“Damn, we’ve been here a while.”

“Yep.”

They stayed like that, cuddled up together for a while. Sometimes just enjoying the silence, or sometimes they talked about things. They discussed what they’d name the baby. They were already pretty sure they knew what they wanted to name her but hadn’t made it definite yet.

Lex soon falls asleep, and Ethan takes the baby from her arms, holding her against his chest. He takes a photo of the baby and sends it to Sandra along with a text.

> Baby girl born at 12:01 this morning. Pretty sure we know what we want to name her, but Lex fell asleep before we made it definite, so I won’t tell you what it is just in case she wakes up and doesn’t like it. I’m not sure how much longer we’ll have to stay at the hospital, but if you could drop the girls here in the morning that would be great. Thanks again for watching them. 

* * *

They were getting ready to leave for the hospital and meet the baby. Ebony wasn’t overly interested in the baby she was more excited to see her parents again. It was the longest she’d been without them and she missed them greatly.

“Gonna see mummy and daddy.” She said as the climbed into Sandra’s car.

“And May flower.” Hannah said.

“Oh yeah.” She bounced in her seat a little. She really wanted to see Lex and Ethan again.

The drive wasn’t overly long, and they soon found themselves in a waiting room.

“I’ll text your parents so they now you’re here.” Sandra said, pulling out her phone.

Not long after, Ethan appeared. “Hey girls.” He said, announcing his arrival.

“Daddy!” Ebony ran straight over to him and he picked her up. She hugged on to him tightly.

“Did you miss me? Because I missed you.” He said, kissing to top of her head.

“Uh-huh.” She nodded. “Look, I fell over.” She said showing him a small graze on her knee.

“Oh no. Good thing you had Sandra and Hannah to help you.” He said. He gave Sandra a thank you wave as Hannah came over and took his hand.

“Mum and baby okay?” She asked.

“Yeah, they’re great. Let’s go see them.” He smiles, giving her hand a squeeze and takes them into the room where Lex and the baby were.

“Mummy!” Ebony yelled as soon as the door was open, running straight over to where Lex was sitting on the bed holding the baby.

“Hi Ebbi, you’ve got to be quieter, okay? The baby is sleeping.” She said, helping her clamber onto the bed and giving her a hug.

“That’s the baby?” She asked pointing. “She’s so little.”

“She is.” Lex nods.

Hannah goes around the bed and sits on Lex’s other side, snuggling up close. “Can I hold her, mum?”

“Yes, you’ve gotta be careful, remember?”

Hannah nods and takes the baby. “Hi May flower, I’m Hannah.” She says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to try and guess what the baby's name is, I'd be interested to see what you guys think it is.


	19. Chapter 69

Sandra had decided that she was going to sit and wait for a bit. Just in case there was anything else she could do. And so that she might be able to meet the baby. It had been years since her other friends had had kids, and it was exciting to be right there helping out. Hannah and Ebony were great kids and she was always happy to watch them. She was always surprised about how well they played together, considering their age gap. And Cody was always happy to include Ebony in whatever game he’d play with Hannah.

“Who are you waiting for?” A woman a few seats over asked her. She too was sitting alone.

“My friend. She’s already had her baby; I was just dropping off her other kids.” Sandra said. “How about you?”

“My granddaughter.” The woman said. 

“I have to say, you seem rather young to be a great-grandmother.”

“Yes, well my granddaughter was the result of a teen pregnancy.” She explained. “And she’s only in her early twenties herself. So, my family has had a lot of generations rather close together.”

“I see.” Sandra nodded. “Is this her first?”

“Second. Though she did have a miscarriage a few years ago, so I guess you could count this one as her third.” The woman decided to change the topic slightly. “Your friend, did she have a boy or a girl?”

“Girl. Her husband sent me a photo. Would you like to see?”

“Oh, yes.” The woman shuffled over the seats that separated them as Sandra pulled up the photo of the baby. “Aw, isn’t she darling.” She cooed. 

Sandra nodded her agreement. “I’m hanging around a bit so that I might get to meet her.”

“Does she have a name?”

“I believe she does. I don’t know what it is though. My friend’s husband didn’t want to say because they hadn’t made it official yet.” She explained. “Do you know if you granddaughter is having a boy or a girl?”

“No, she wants it to be a surprise.” The woman says. “I don’t know how she can stand not knowing. I guess I’m just impatient.”

“My friend’s like that, wanting it to be a surprise. Her and her husband bet on the gender.” Sandra said.

“Who won this time?”

“She did.” She knew that neither cared what gender the baby was, but they were both rather competitive so she knew Lex would be pleased. “I don’t think I’ve introduced myself. I’m Sandra.” She held out her hand to the woman.

She took it, giving it a shake. “I’m Veronica, it’s very nice to meet you.” 

* * *

“What’s her name?” Hannah asked, looking up from the baby.

“Olivia Rose.” Lex said.

“Mummy can I hold her?” Ebony asked, bouncing up and down.

“Yes, but you need to settle down. You can’t hold her if you’re bouncing.”

She stopped bouncing and sat up straight and perfectly still.

Lex pulled Ebony onto her lap. “Hold out your arms.” She instructed. “Hannah, could you pass her over please?”

She obliged, handing Olivia over to Ebony. Lex helped in holding her up, so that Ebony didn’t have to worry too much about holding her correctly.

“Hello baby.” She said, looking down at her sister before turning to Lex. “Was I ever this little?”

“Yep, I think you might have been even smaller when you were born.” She said, turning to Ethan. “Do you remember, babe?”

“I don’t know any of that stuff.” He said from where he was standing trying to take a few sneaky photos.

“I’ve got it written down at home, so I can have a look for you if you like.” She said to Ebony.

“Was ‘Nana little?”

“Yes, she was a tiny baby.” She hadn’t had a proper way to measure how big Hannah was back in Hatchetfield. She had written down how many of her hands Hannah was long, but as Lex had grown since then it wasn’t a measurement she could convert. She did remember their mum saying that Hannah was small for a baby.

“I don’t wanna hold baby anymore.” Ebony said.

Lex took Olivia out of Ebony’s arms as she clambered off of her lap to go attack Ethan. 

“Daddy.” She said, hugging onto one of his legs tightly.

“Hey kiddo. I saw that you got to have a hold of your sister.” He picks her up, sitting her on his hip.

“Uh-huh.” She nods before resting her head against his shoulder. “Can we go home now?”

He chuckles. “Soon. The doctor just needs to come back and check that everything’s good with mum and Olivia and then we can go.”

“Wanna go now.” She whined.

“I know you do, but we gotta wait a bit longer.” He kisses the top of her head. 

She grumbles a bit more.

He’s about to take a photo of Hannah and Lex cuddled up together, watching Olivia, when his phone vibrates with a text. He opens it and sees that it’s from Sandra.

> I’ve been hanging around a bit in the waiting room in case you guys needed anything else, and I got chatting with this woman. She introduced herself as Veronica and I’m about 90% sure that she’s Lex’s grandmother. 

Shit. What was she doing here? How did she know they were there? Ethan quickly texts Sandra back.

> Did she say why she was here? And would you be able to send a photo? 

He wanted to make sure that it was actually her before jumping to any conclusions.

> She said she was here to see her granddaughter’s new baby. I’ll try and get a sneaky photo. 

A few seconds later a photo came through on his phone. It wasn’t the best, but it was clearly of Veronica Foster. And how had she known about Olivia? Was she watching them again? He hadn’t had the feeling of being watched he had the last time she was hanging around, and he was pretty sure Lex hadn’t had it either.

> Thanks for letting me know. 

He didn’t know what to do with this information. He wanted to be able to get out of the hospital without Veronica seeing them. He knew that Lex wouldn’t want the girls anywhere near her.

If he was being honest, he didn’t even really want to tell Lex that Veronica was there. He didn’t want to burst the little bubble of happiness she was in. He didn’t think hearing about Veronica would be something she’d be able to handle at that moment. Neither of them had gotten much more than about five hours of sleep and Lex was also physically exhausted and could easily become quite emotional.

He didn’t know what the best course of action would be. He didn’t know what Veronica’s intentions were.

He sighed.

“Everything okay, babe?” Lex asked, looking up at him from where she sat on the bed.

“Yeah.” He said quickly. “Everything’s fine.”

“Really? You’ve been frowning at your phone for five minutes.” She pointed out.

He wasn’t sure how to respond to this. He didn’t realise that he’d been doing that, let alone long enough for her to notice. 

“Ethan?” She was starting to look concerned. She passed Olivia to Hannah and got up to stand next to him. “Has something happened?”

He sighs. There was no point trying to hide it from her. He simply handed her his phone for her to read the messages from Sandra. He thought that would be better than saying anything out loud and potentially upsetting Hannah.

Lex quickly read the texts, frowning. Once finished she hands him back the phone. “What are we going to do?” She asked. All she could think about was the girls and keeping them safe. “Do we confront her? Do we sneak past her?”

He thought for a few moments. “We should wait for her to leave to get food or go to the bathroom or something and leave then. I think that would probably be easiest and we can have Sandra let us know when the coast is clear.” He decided.

She nods, agreeing to his plan before letting out a sigh and leaning into him. “I wish we didn’t have to worry about her.”

“Worry about who?” Ebony asked, turning her head to get a look at Lex.

“No one, Ebbi. We’re just talking about grown-up stuff.”

“What sort of grown-up stuff?” She asked.

“Nothing you need to worry about. Do you wanna go play with one of your toys?” Lex asked, brushing a few stray hairs back from Ebony’s face.

She nodded and jumped down from Ethan’s arms to go in search of a toy.

“So, you think we should just wait?” Lex asked him, going back to discussing Veronica.

“Yeah.” He nods.

“How did she know we were here?”

“I don’t know, babe.”

* * *

They were getting ready to leave. They just needed a text from Sandra letting them know that the coast was clear. They hadn’t told Hannah what was going on, but she seemed to figure it out. That, or Webby had told her, they weren’t entirely sure.

Lex had been uneasy since hearing about Veronica’s presence and was keen to get as far away from her as possible. She had been keeping the girls as close to her as possible. It was easy enough to do with Olivia, and Hannah had been in a pretty cuddly mood that day. It was Ebony who kept running around the room. She hadn’t liked hanging out in the one room all day.

“Go now.” She said running over to the door and pulling at the handle.

Ethan picked her up, stopping her from running rampant throughout the hospital. “Gotta wait a bit longer, kiddo.” He said.

She grumbled before starting to climb all over him.

After a few more minutes of this his phone vibrates, announcing the arrival of a text. He quickly checks and sees that it’s Sandra with the all clear.

> I’ve taken her with me to get some food, so you’ve got a few minutes. 

“Okay, let’s go.” He said.

The five of them make their way out of the room and down the corridor before exiting the building all together. They walk straight over to the car and pile in.

Lex is only able to breathe easily once they get out onto the main road.

Ethan reaches over and gives her hand a reassuring squeeze.


	20. Chapter 70

They were awoken to the sounds of Olivia crying.

“I’ve got her, babe.” Ethan said, kissing Lex on the cheek before climbing out of bed and going over to Olivia who was lying in her cot. He picks her up and holds her against his chest, rubbing her back.

She continues to cry, so he moves out of the bedroom so that Lex had a chance of going back to sleep.

“What’s wrong, kiddo?” He said, adjusting her so that he was now cradling her. He begins rocking her in his arms. 

She’d just eaten, so he knew she wasn’t hungry, and he also knew she didn’t need a nappy change yet. Odds were that she was just upset about waking up.

“It’s okay.” He said, kissing the top of her head. “Dad’s got you.”

He continues talking softly to her and she begins to calm down. She eventually stopped crying and looked up at him with her wide brown eyes.

He wipes away a few stray tears from her cheeks. “There you go, there’s nothing to be upset about.”

She yawns and closes her eyes, ready to go back to sleep.

He smiles, kissing the top of her head again before turning to walk back into the bedroom. On the way he comes across Ebony on her way to presumably wake up Lex for something.

“What’re you doing up, Ebbi?” He asks.

“Can’t find teddy.” She says.

“Let’s go have a look then.” He takes her hand with his free one and guides her back to her bedroom. 

When they enter Ebony climbs back onto her bed, waiting for him to find her missing teddy bear. 

He figures the most likely place for it to have gone where Ebony wouldn’t see was under her bed. So, he crouches down, still holding Olivia and takes a look. Sure enough, there the teddy was. He pulls it out and hands it over to Ebony, who hugs onto it tightly.

“Thanks daddy.” She says, standing up on her bed to give him a hug as he gets back to his feet.

“No worries, kiddo.” He tucks her back under her blankets and kisses her forehead. “Goodnight.” 

“Na-night daddy and ‘Livia.” She says, snuggling down and holding tightly to her teddy bear.

He leaves the room, closing the door softly behind him before returning to his own room. By this time Olivia had fallen asleep and didn’t wake up when he put her back into her cot.

He climbs back into bed, finding that Lex had fallen back to sleep. He kisses her cheek and carefully wraps an arm around her.

* * *

“Can we go on holiday?” Hannah asked as they entered the apartment, having just returned from picking her up from school.

“Holiday?” Lex said, rather distracted with packing up the stroller.

“Yeah. Everyone at school is going to a different city, or state, or country over summer. So, can we have a holiday too?” She said dumping her bag on the floor and going to the kitchen for a snack.

“Put that away please.” She pointed at the bag. “And we’re not going on holiday.”

“Why?” Hannah grumbled, picking up her bag and taking out her lunchbox and homework.

“Because it’ll be too expensive, Olivia’s barely a month old and it’ll be too much change for you.” She said, beginning to put together an afternoon snack for the two older girls.

“It can’t be that expensive, and Olivia will be a bit older by the time it is summer, and I can handle the change. I’m almost thirteen.” She said rather defiantly.

“We’re still not going on holiday.” She said handing Hannah a selection of carrot and cucumber sticks, before doing the same with Ebony. “Sit at the table while you’re eating please, Ebbi.”

Ebony goes and does as Lex instructs. “Why doesn’t ‘Nana have to?” She asked.

“Because she’s older and won’t drop food all over the floor.”

“We’ve never been on a holiday before. Can’t we go please?” Hannah said between pieces of carrot.

“I already said no. You can ask again next year.” She sets Olivia up on a blanket on the floor with a toy to fiddle with.

“Dad would say yes.”

“No, he wouldn’t.”

“He would if I asked him before you told him to say no.” She countered, continuing to eat her carrot sticks.

“It doesn’t matter what he would or wouldn’t say, we’re not going on a holiday.” Lex said moving into the kitchen, Hannah following right behind.

“Well, I’m going to ask him.” She picks Lex’s phone up from where it was sitting on the bench. She unlocks the phone and hunts down Ethan’s contact, hitting the call button.

“Hannah, no. Put it back please.”

“I’m on the phone.” She says right as Ethan answers the call.

“Hey, what’s up.” He said as a greeting.

“Hi dad, it’s Hannah. If I asked if we could go on holiday, what would your answer be?” She asked.

“I would say to ask mum.” He said.

“You’re just saying that, so she doesn’t get mad at you. What would you say?”

“Well, it would be nice to go on a holiday.”

“Yes!”

“Don’t celebrate yet, I haven’t finished. As I was saying, I’d like to go on a holiday, but we can’t right now.” He said.

“That’s not fair!” She hangs up the phone, putting it back down on the bench, scowling.

“What’s not fair?” Lex asks.

“Everything!” She yells storming into her room and slamming the door shut. She had been becoming more and more grumpy recently. She was most definitely becoming a teenager, despite still having a few months to go before she actually was one.

“Hannah.” She follows her, though stops at the closed door. She knocks on it lightly. “Can I come in?”

“No.” She says from the other side of the door. “You’re just gonna get me in trouble.”

“I’m not going to get you in trouble. I want to know what’s made you so upset and help you to not be upset anymore.” Lex explained.

“Finished mummy.” Ebony said coming over to her and showing off her plate of half-eaten carrot and cucumber sticks.

“There’s still some left, can you go back to the table and eat some more please.”

“Not hungry.”

“You were complaining the whole way home about being hungry. Go and eat some more please.” Lex turned Ebony so she was facing the table.

Reluctantly she wondered back over there, sitting down and continuing to munch away.

“Can I come in please, Hannah.” She asks again.

“Not yet.” Came her reply.

“Okay, do you want me to come back in a few minutes?”

There was a pause before she spoke. “Yes.”

“Okay then.” Lex said. “I’ll come back later. I love you.” While she knew that Hannah was upset at the prospect of not going on a holiday, she was pretty sure that there was something else that was making her react so drastically. With a sigh, Lex left Hannah’s door and went to check on Ebony and Olivia before getting started on dinner.

Ebony had abandoned what was left of her food and had joined her sister on the floor. Despite not being too keen on her at first, Ebony had really warmed up to Olivia and would happily play with her every now and then.

Lex decided to leave them be. She collected the discarded plate and food from the table and took it into the kitchen. Hannah had left her own still half-full plate on the bench. Lex stole a cucumber stick and munched on it while cleaning up Ebony’s things.

She checks her phone, which is still sitting on the bench and finds a text from Ethan.

> Everything okay? 

She sends him a quick reply.

> It will be. Hannah’s in a bad mood about something. 

Not long later, Olivia began to cry.

“Mummy, ‘Livia’s crying.” Ebony yelled from the living room.

“Thanks, Ebbi.” She said, going over to them and picking Olivia off the floor. She finds that Olivia needs a nappy change, and quickly does it before returning her to the floor with Ebony. “I’m gonna go talk to Hannah for a bit, so I’ll be with her if you need me.” She knew that the two little ones would be okay without her watching them for a few minutes. Olivia couldn’t go anywhere, and Ebony was very careful with her.

She walked over to the bedroom and knocked lightly on the door. “It’s me, Banana. Is it okay for me to come in?” She asked.

“Yeah.” Came a muffled reply from within.

Lex carefully opened the door, finding that Hannah lying on her bed, back to the door. She was curled up, hugging tightly onto her pillow. 

She sits down next to her and starts rubbing her back. “Do you wanna tell me why you’re upset?”

“Not fair.” She mumbled.

“What’s not fair?”

“Can’t be normal.” She said.

“What do you mean, Hannah?”

Rather reluctantly, Hannah sits up and faces Lex. “Can’t go on holiday. Can’t be a normal family. Can’t act normal. Can’t be normal.” She hugs her knees to her chest, squeezing the pillow. 

“What makes you think we’re not a normal family?” She asks, deciding to address that point first.

“I’m in it. Would be normal if I wasn’t here.”

“That’s not true, Hannah. You belong in this family as much as anyone else does.” She brushes a few loose hairs out of her face.

“People say I’m just a burden. A burden to you because no one else wants me. You’d get to have a normal family if I wasn’t here. If I wasn’t here, then maybe you could do normal family things like go on holiday.”

“You are not a burden; you shouldn’t listen to anyone that says that. I love that you’re in this family. It wouldn’t be a normal family if you weren’t here. I’m sorry that we can’t go on a holiday right now, but one day maybe we’ll be able to.” She wrapped her arms around Hannah.

She leans into Lex. “Why can’t I be normal?”

She kisses the top of her head. “Because you were born a little different to everyone else. In reality there’s no such thing as normal. Everyone is different, no two people are the same. There are just averages and expectations. Your autism makes you stand out a bit more. But that’s not a bad thing.”

“I wish I could be like everyone else. Then maybe people wouldn’t be mean.”

“Hey, don’t say that. You are perfect just the way you are. People are only mean to you because they don’t understand you. Maybe if you helped them understand, they wouldn’t be mean to you.”

Hannah just shrugs, resting her head on Lex’s shoulder.


	21. Chapter 21

“Go put your things away please, Hannah.” Lex said as they came home from picking her up.

Hannah pulled out the single sheet of homework she had to do, putting it on the table before taking out her lunchbox. She left it in the kitchen before taking her schoolbag into her bedroom.

“Do you want to have a whole orange or share with Ebbi?” She asked as Hannah re-emerged from the bedroom. She was slicing up an orange into wedges. She knew that Ebony would only eat maybe have of the fruit.

“Share.” She says sitting at the table next to Ebony.

Lex comes over and puts a plate of orange slices between them before picking up Olivia off of the floor and getting a small tub of blueberry yoghurt for her before sitting down at the table. She placed the baby in her lap, beginning to spoon feed her the yoghurt.

“Mummy, ‘Nana took the piece I was gonna have.” Ebony said.

“They’re all the same, Ebbi, just have a different one.” She said.

“But she took one from my side!”

“How about you take one from her side then. Would that make it fair?” Lex suggested.

She thought about it for a moment before nodding and taking a piece from Hannah’s side of the plate.

Olivia started coughing.

“Is that all the homework you have, Banana?” She asked, nodding at the single worksheet while rubbing Olivia’s back.

“Yeah, did the rest in class. No one got a lot cause it’s last week of the year.” She said, slurping all the juice out of her orange slice. That was how she always ate her oranges. She didn’t like the flesh itself, only the juice. Whenever he saw this, Ethan called her an orange vampire.

Olivia began crying, still coughing. Though this wasn’t her normal cry. This one seemed more strained, like it was hard for her to get the sound out.

Lex turned her so she could get a proper look at her. Her face and neck seemed to be reddening and appeared slightly swollen.

“What’s wrong with her?” Hannah asked, having noticed what Lex had.

“I’m not sure.” She was starting to get worried. She felt Olivia’s forehead, there was no temperature. It slowly dawned on her what might be happening. “I think she might be having an allergic reaction.” She stood and quickly grabbed her phone from the kitchen.

She’d never seen an allergic reaction before. None of the rest of them had any allergies. She didn’t know what to do that would be useful. She dials 911.

“911 what is your emergency?” The operator asked from the other line. 

“My daughter, I think she’s having an allergic reaction.” Lex said. 

By this time Olivia was no longer making any noise as she continued crying.

“What’s your address?” 

Lex quickly rattles it off, not taking her eyes off of Olivia.

“Okay, we have an ambulance on their way. Would I be able to get the name of your daughter?” The operator asked

“Olivia.”

“And how old is Olivia?”

“Two months.” She said, starting to feel panic rise up within her. She’d never seen anything like this, and it was happening to her little girl.

Hannah and Ebony were watching her from the table, not sure what to do themselves. Ebony didn’t really know what was going on but knew that something serious was happening.

“Can you give me your name?” The operator asked.

“Lex.”

“Okay Lex, Olivia is going to be well taken care of, you have nothing to worry about.” She said. “Can you tell me what symptoms she’s experiencing?”

“She started coughing and her face and neck have gotten all red and swollen. She’s crying but she’s stopped being able to make any noise. Is she going to be okay?”

“She’ll be fine. The paramedics are going to be with you shortly and they’ll give her a shot from an EpiPen.” The operator explained. “Now, is there anyone else with you at the moment?”

“Yeah, my other two daughters.”

“What are their names?”

“Hannah and Ebony.” Lex said, watching as Olivia’s face grew redder.

“And how old are they?”

“Hannah’s twelve and Ebony’s three. I don’t think that Olivia’s able to breathe properly.”

“Okay. Sit down with her on your lap and have her leaning forwards slightly. That should help open up her airways a bit. Try to keep her as calm as you can.”

Lex follows the instructions.

“Mum, I can hear sirens.” Hannah says, getting up from the table and looking out the window.

“Go get your headphones, the noise will get louder.” She says.

“When the paramedics arrive, you’ll most likely have to go with them and Olivia back to the hospital so they can make sure she’s okay. Is there anyone you need to contact to watch your other children?” The operator asks.

“My husband.”

“I can have a colleague contact him if you like?”

“Yes.” She gives the operator Ethan’s name and number. “Hannah.” She called over to her. “I need you to go down to the lobby and bring the paramedics up here.”

She said nothing, looking fearfully in Olivia’s direction.

“Can you do that, Hannah?”

She nods slowly and makes her way out of the apartment. She’s never been allowed to leave it on her own before and knew that there would be a lot of noise and bright lights from the ambulance.

It didn’t take long for Hannah to return with two paramedics. By this time Olivia’s face had started to go purple. One of the paramedics came straight over injecting her with an EpiPen. 

The swelling started to go down, and her face started to return to its normal colour. Her voice returned to her she cried loudly.

“It’s okay.” Lex said, hugging her, one hand rubbing her back. “You’re okay now.” She looks up at the paramedics. “Thank you.”

“No worries.” One of them said. “We’ll need you two to come back to the hospital with us, just so we can monitor her for a bit and test for what it is she reacted to.”

She nods.

It didn’t take too long for Olivia to calm down.

Lex looks over at Hannah and Ebony, both still seem a little scared. She beckons them. “She’s okay now, you don’t need to worry.” She says, giving them each a hug. She gets up off of the couch ready to go to the hospital. “You two will have to stay here on your own for a little while. Dad will be here soon but until then, Hannah, you’re in charge.”

Hannah nods, accepting her job.

Ebony attaches herself to Lex’s leg, not wanting her to leave.

“Let go Ebbi, I’ve gotta go now. Hannah will take good care of you.”

Reluctantly she let go, allowing Lex to leave.

* * *

“Hello?” Ethan said picking up his phone.

“Is this Ethan Green?” Said the person on the other end.

“Yes.” He replied, not quite sure who this person was, how they knew his name and why they were calling him.

“I work as a 911 operator. We got a call recently from your wife in regard to your daughter.”

That caught his attention. “What happened? Are they okay?”

“Your daughter had an allergic reaction. Paramedics are treating her now.”

He was confused by this, none of the girls had any allergies. That they knew of at least. “Which one?” He asked.

“I’m sorry?”

“I have three daughters, which one had the reaction?” He asked.

“Oh, it was Olivia.”

It had been the answer he’d expected. Lex had told him that morning how she planned to try feed some soft foods to her, and surely if one of the others had allergies they'd know about them by this point. “Tell Lex I’m on my way.” He said. He’d already packed up his work things and headed straight out for the door.

“What’s happened.” Geoff asked him.

“Olivia’s had an allergic reaction.” He said.

“Shit, is it bad?”

He shrugs. “Bad enough for Lex to call an ambulance. I’ve gotta go.” 

He knew it had to have been serious for Lex to have called 911. She’d never done so before, even on the days back in Hatchetfield when she had been beaten within an inch of her life. He knew she cared more about the girls’ wellbeing than her own. It had to have been serious enough that Olivia needed medical attention faster than him driving home and taking her to the hospital himself.

Much to his relief it didn’t take him long to get to the apartment. Upon entering he found Ebony curled up on the couch watching TV with Hannah pacing behind the couch flapping her hands.

They looked up as soon as he came inside. Hannah went straight over to him, hugging onto him tightly, Ebony soon joining them.

“It was really scary, dad.” Hannah whispers, before going on to explain everything that had happened.

“She’ll be okay now. Let’s go pick up her and mum.” He said. He gives each girl a kiss on top of their heads, before breaking away from the hug to grab a few things they might need.

He takes the girls out to the car and they all pile in, driving over to the hospital. It takes a little longer than he would’ve liked for them to find Lex and Olivia.

“Is she okay?” He asks, going straight over to them, when he at last spots them in a waiting room. He was carrying Ebony in one arm, Hannah hanging on to the other.

Lex nods, relieved to see him and that the girls hadn’t gotten hurt while they were without adult supervision. “Yeah, she’s okay. They just did some tests to find out what she’s allergic too, and we’ve just got to wait for the results.” She says.

He nods.

They find a selection of empty seats and sit down. Lex resting her head on his shoulder, keeping an eye on a now rather tired Olivia.

It doesn’t take long for Ebony to get bored of sitting and waiting, so drags Hannah over to a small selection of toys in the corner.

Ethan turns his attention to Olivia, who was curled up in Lex’s arms. He runs a hand over her hair before rubbing her back.

She looks up at him, letting out a small yawn before wriggling as close to Lex as she could.

“She’s tired.” He says.

“Tired but okay.” Lex responds. “She almost died. Her throat was all swollen up and she was going purple by the time the paramedics arrived.”

He wraps an arm around her, kissing the side of her head. “You said so yourself that she’s okay.”

She nods. “I don’t want that to ever happen again.”

“It won’t. We’ll find out what she can’t have, and she won’t have any more allergic reactions.” He said, giving her a squeeze.

* * *

It was dark by the time they got home, Olivia having already fallen asleep and the only thing keeping Ebony awake was the prospect of food. On their way home they stopped to get themselves a pizza and were now eagerly devouring it.

Lex kept Olivia in her arms while she ate, still rather shaken about her allergic reaction.

They’d found out that she was allergic to the blueberries in the yoghurt she had eaten. The doctor’s tests had also discovered that she had a few other allergies and they’d come home with a list of things that Olivia couldn’t eat.

“Can I go to bed now?” Ebony asked, having finished eating.

Ethan let out a laugh. “I don’t think you’ve ever asked to go to bed before.” He said. “You must be tired.”

Ebony yawned in response.

“Come on then.” He got up from the table, taking her off to get ready for bed.

“You going okay, Banana?” Lex asked.

“Being in charge was scary.” She said.

“I know, but you did a really good job. You were very helpful today. Things would’ve been a lot harder if you hadn’t had been there.” She said, reaching over the table and giving Hannah’s hand a squeeze. “Thank you for helping.”


	22. Chapter 72

Olivia had started sleeping through the night, so she had been moved into her own room. The baby monitor had been moved in there as well, seeing as the two older girls didn’t really need it. Ebony seemed particularly excited about being able to have midnight chats with Hannah without them knowing about it. This idea was quickly shot down, and Hannah wasn’t all that keen on being awake at so late of an hour, especially seeing as she had her first day of high school in the morning.

Lex and Ethan were making the most of having some alone time together. They were cuddled up on their bed together, legs intertwined, casually exchanging kisses.

“When was the last time we got some proper time alone together?” Ethan asked, resting his head back on his pillow.

“Not since Olivia was born. Possibly not since before I was pregnant, because Ebbi had that phase of always wanting to sleep here.” She said before kissing him.

He kisses back before breaking away. “I missed spending time with you.” He says quietly.

She kisses him deeply, ending the kiss quicker than he would’ve liked. “I missed spending time with you too.” She presses her forehead against his.

He cups her cheek with one hand, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. “I love you, Lex.” He whispers.

“I love you too, Ethan.” She returns the kiss, her fingers tangled in his hair.

Moments like this were few and far between, and they were both determined to make the most of it while they could. It wasn’t for a lack of trying to have alone time, it was just having three children, two of them being rather small, made that difficult. All the girls had impeccable timing when it came to interrupting their alone time. 

It had gotten pretty late by the time they settled back into bed, both rather tired. They remained cuddled close, Ethan running his hand up and down Lex’s side.

She kisses his cheek. “It’s a big day tomorrow.” She says with a sigh.

“Yep.” He agreed, kissing the top of her head. “But it’s not tomorrow yet.” He trails a few soft kisses down the side of her face.

She laughs, picking up her phone and showing him the time displayed. “It’s after midnight, babe. It’s tomorrow now.”

“Well, there’s still next tomorrow.” He said, continuing the trail of kisses.

“Next tomorrow?” She turns so that they are now face to face, looking into each other’s eyes. “You make no sense.”

“I don’t need to; you love me anyway.” He smiled.

“Yep, I just had to go and fall in love with a weirdo.” She smiles back at him before pressing her lips against his.

* * *

“Mummy can we have ice-cream when we get home?” Ebony asked, skipping alongside Lex as they made their way to pick up Hannah from school.

“No.” She said.

“Please?”

“No. We don’t even have ice-cream at home.”

“We can get some.” Ebony said, taking hold of Lex’s hand, hoping to steer her down the road that led to the local shops.

“We’re not getting ice-cream.”

“Daddy would get me ice-cream.” She said.

“I know he would. But I’m not him, so we’re not getting any. We’re picking up Hannah and then going home.” Lex said. She was always able to resist whenever the girls asked for a special treat. Ethan wasn’t able to do that. If they wanted ice-cream or chocolate or lollies, he’d get it for them. 

“Lex?”

She turned around, finding a rather familiar face walking along the street behind them. “Deb?”

“I knew it was you!” Deb said catching up to where Lex was standing. 

“What are you doing here?” She asked. “I thought you were still living in Hatchetfield?” The two of them hadn’t exactly hung out a lot but were in a lot of the same classes in high school. They often teamed up on group assignments whenever one of their actual friends weren’t in that class. They hadn’t really spoken to each other since Lex had dropped out.

“I do, I’m just here for a family reunion.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m guessing the rumour that you and Ethan ran off together was true? You guys are still a thing, right?”

“Yeah, we came here with Hannah. And we’re married now.” Lex said, smiling.

“Mummy.” Ebony said, tugging on her hand. “Who’s she?” She asked, pointing at Deb.

“She’s someone I went to school with. Her name’s Deb.” Lex explained.

Deb gave her a little wave, but Ebony turned suddenly shy and hid herself behind Lex.

“That’s Ebony.” Lex supplied. “Sorry, she’s not normally this shy.”

“It’s fine. How old is she?”

“Three.”

“I’m almost four.” Ebony sticks out her head from behind Lex’s leg and holds out four fingers, seemingly starting to get over her shyness.

Lex laughs, running a hand over Ebony’s hair. “You’ve still got half a year to go.” She says.

She pushes away Lex’s hand, patting her hair down. She then goes over to the stroller and takes out Olivia. “This is ‘Livia, she’s almost one.”

Lex takes Olivia from Ebony. “Again, still at least half a year to go.”

Deb laughs lightly. “They’re adorable, Lex. You and Ethan make really cute kids. Honestly, I can’t even believe that you have kids, that’s crazy.”

“Yeah it is pretty crazy. This one especially.” She points at Ebony who’s hanging off of her leg.

Ebony sticks her tongue out at her.

Deb chuckles. “I can tell. She seems a lot like Ethan.”

“Yeah. She’s a daddy’s girl, that’s for sure.” Lex says.

“I bet he loves that.” While only having limited interactions with Ethan, Deb knew that he loved kids. She had seen how he had been with Hannah back in Hatchetfield.

“He does.” She nods.

“Daddy gets me ice-cream.” Ebony piped up.

“He gets you too much ice-cream.” Lex said.

“That doesn’t surprise me at all.” Deb says. She looks at them for a moment. “You know, Lex, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you happy before. Like properly every-day basis sort of happy. California has been good for you.”

“Yeah, I guess.” She said thoughtfully. She supposed that overall California had been good. Sure, some bad things had happened but there had been so much more good.

“How’s Hannah? She’d be twelve now, right?”

“Almost thirteen.” Ebony says.

“Yes, she’s actually almost thirteen.” Lex says, ruffling up Ebony’s hair. “And she’s good. She’s made a friend and she’s been doing better at school. We’ve had a few ups and downs, but she’s doing really well.”

“’Nana’s my best friend.” Ebony adds. “Gotta go, mummy, need to pick her up.”

“We’re on our way to pick Hannah up from school. It’s her first day of high school.” Lex explains.

“I can’t believe she’s in high school. That makes me feel old.” Deb says. She had babysat Hannah a few times as a way to allow Lex and Ethan to have a proper date every now and then.

“I know.”

“Well, I’ll let you get back to it. It was great seeing you again.”

“Yeah, you too.” She gave Deb a wave goodbye before putting Olivia back in the stroller and continuing the walk towards the school.

As they approached the gates Hannah was already there waiting, looking a little worried.

“’Nana!” Ebony shouted as soon as she spotted her, running over to the school gates and giving her a big hug.

“Hi Ebbi.” She said, before looking up at Lex as she caught up. “You’re late.”

“I know, I’m sorry, Banana. We ended up running into Deb. You remember Deb, don’t you?”

Hannah thought for a moment before nodding. “Babysat.”

“Yeah, she babysat you a few times.” She says, picking up Hannah’s schoolbag where it had been abandoned on the ground, allowing them to begin the trek back to the apartment. “How was your first day of high school?” She asked, changing the subject.

Hannah shrugged. “Only have two classes with Cody.”

“Well two is better than none.”

She gave a non-comital hum.

“Did you get any homework?” Lex asks.

Hannah nods. “Don’t like homework on first day.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty rough but you’ll get it done in no time and then you can play until it’s time for bed.”

She gave a small smile before walking ahead with Ebony.

* * *

“Daddy can we get ice-cream?” Ebony asked, running at Ethan as soon as he came in through the front door.

“Did you ask mum?” He says, picking her up. He knew that there was no way he’d get away with giving the girls ice-cream with Lex right there, he barely got away with it when she wasn’t.

“Uh-huh.” She admitted.

“And what did she say?”

“To ask you.”

“I said no such thing.” Lex said. “That’s a lie, Ebony, and you know it.”

“Sorry, kiddo. Looks like it’s a no go on the ice-cream.” Ethan said, putting her down and going over to greet Lex who was carrying Olivia. He presses a quick kiss to Lex’s lips. “How was your day?”

“It was good. I actually ran into Deb today.”

“Deb from school Deb?” He asked.

“Yep.” She nods

“What’s she doing out here?”

“Family reunion she said.” She puts Olivia down on the floor with some toys before going into the kitchen. “Do you mind chopping the veggies? I’ve gotta stir this.” She said going over to a pot, the contents of which was bubbling away merrily.

“Sure.” He said, pulling out several different vegetables, beginning to slice them up. “Where’s Hannah?”

“In her room. She’s been in there doing homework all afternoon.” Lex said.

“It’s her first day, how much homework did they give her?”

She shrugs. “I’ve no idea.”

They then heard Olivia start crying and Ebony ran into the kitchen. 

“Mummy, ‘Livia was playing with one of my toys, but I didn’t want her too. I took it from her and now she’s crying.” Ebony says, holding out the toy, a small teddy bear.

“I’ll go calm her down.” Ethan said, finishing off with the vegetables.

“Thanks.” Lex says.

“C’mon Ebbi, let’s go.” He held out a hand for and she took it, the two of them going back into the living room where Olivia was lying on the floor. He picks her up along with another stuffed toy, this one a giraffe. He begins to rock her. “It’s okay.” He says. He starts dancing the toy in front of her face.

She starts calming down and reaches for the toy giraffe.

He hands it over and she clutches onto it.

“Better now?” Ebony asks.

“Yep, all better.” He says. “Let’s go see if mum wants any more help with dinner.” He takes the two girls back into the kitchen with him. “Want me to do anything, babe?” He asks.

“I think I’m good for the moment.” She says as Ebony attaches herself to her. “Can you go tell Hannah dinner will be ready in a few minutes?”

“Sure.” He goes over to Hannah and Ebony’s room, knocking lightly on the door before sticking his head through the door. “Dinner’s gonna be ready soon, Banana.” He said before noticing that she was lying on her back on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. “What’re you doing down there?”

“I like it down here.” She says, not looking at him.

“Mind if I join you?”

She doesn’t say anything and just shrugs.

He takes that as a yes and lies down on the floor next to her, still holding Olivia. “How was school?”

“I don’t like it.” She says. 

“Well, you never really like first days, do you? I’m sure tomorrow will be better.”

“Don’t think so. Do I have to keep going?”

“Sorry, but you have to keep going, Split.” He says, wrapping an arm around her.

“But you and mum never finished school.” She argued.

“Yes, but we were older, and it was under different circumstances. It wasn’t because we didn’t like school.”

“What if I got home-schooled?” She suggested.

He shook his head. “You need to socialize. And me and mum both work so we wouldn’t be able to do a very good job at teaching you. And what about Cody? You don’t want to leave him behind, do you?”

“No, but we only have two classes together.”

“That’s still some time together, and you can’t just leave him behind. He probably doesn’t like high school much either, but you’ll be fine if you two help each other out.” He says.

“Okay.” She says, seeming to decide to keep going to school.

“Okay.” He gets up off of the floor, holding out a hand to her. “Let’s go get some dinner, I’m starving.”

She accepts his hand and the two of them go out to the kitchen.


	23. Chapter 73

“Don’t wander off, Ebbi.” Lex said as Ebony tried walking off in some random direction as they entered the grocery store.

“Wanna look at toys.” She whined, dragging her feet back over to Lex.

“If you’re good then we have a quick look later.”

She smiled widely at this, jumping up and down. “Yay!”

“Not so loud please.”

“Oops.” She said, hugging onto Lex’s leg as they moved into the store. She soon got bored of just hanging onto Lex, so decided that she was going to be helpful. She would run up to different displays, grab something from a shelf and run back.

“Put it back please, Ebbi.” Lex said while grabbing the things they actually needed.

“Helping.” She said, still trying to give her the box of raspberries she’d picked up.

“I know you are, but we don’t need those. Go put them back and I can give you things to find.” Lex said.

“Okay.” Ebony quickly put the raspberries back on their shelf before returning, ready to be given her first mission.

“Can you find me four oranges, please.” Lex said, holding up four fingers and giving her a bag to put them in.

She nods and runs over to the oranges that were nearby. She picks out four and puts them in the bag, going straight back over to Lex. “What now?”

She took the bag from her, checking the oranges to make sure that they were okay. “Next we need six big carrots.” She gives the bag back to Ebony. “One, two, three, four, five, six.” She counts it out on her fingers.

Ebony finds the carrots and pilled eight into her bag.

“You’ve got too many.” Lex said, inspecting them. She opened up the bag for Ebony to see. “Look there’s, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.” She points to each carrot. “Can you make there be just six?”

Ebony stares at the carrots, thinking. She picks up two, looking to Lex to see if she’s done the right thing.

“Go put those back and we’ll see how many are left in the bag.” She says.

She puts the two extra carrots back. On her return Lex helps her count how many are left in the bag. She puts on a big grin seeing that there were six.

“Good job, Ebbi. Do you wanna go grab me one broccoli?” Lex asks, smiling at her. Ebony seemed to pretty easily get the hang of counting. She knew the numbers that corresponded with hers and Hannah’s ages, but didn’t know anything beyond or in between. 

She scampered off and soon returned holding the broccoli with both hands. “Here, mummy.” She said.

“Thanks. Now I’ve got a tricky one for you. I need you to find me half a cabbage.”

“Half a cabbage?” She said looking around, not able to see where cabbages were.

“Over there.” Lex pointed out where the portioned off cabbages were.

Ebony went over to them, Lex following close behind. She stood in front of the different sized cabbage portions, trying to figure out which one was a half. “This one?” She asked pointing.

“No, that’s a quarter.” Lex said. “Try again. Which one is a half?”

“This one?”

“That’s it. Can you put it in the bag for me?”

Ebony had to stand on tiptoe and use both hands to grab the half cabbage and put in the bag Lex holds out for her. “Look at the toys now?” She asks, hugging Lex.

“Not yet, there’s still some more things we need to get. Do you want to keep helping or have you had enough?” She asks.

“Enough.” She said reaching up, indicating that she wanted to be picked up.

She obliged, picking her up and sitting Ebony on her hip. She continued shopping. One hand hold Ebony, the other pushing Olivia in the stroller and picking up the various items she needed to purchase.

She rested her head on Lex’s shoulder, letting out a yawn.

“Are you tired, little miss ball of energy?” She smiled at her, amazed at how Ebony could go from running around to almost asleep in an instant.

“Nuh-uh.” She says.

Lex kisses the top of her head. “You can have a nap when we get home, how does that sound?”

“No!”

“What’s wrong with having a nap?”

“Don’t want one.” She wrapped her arms around Lex’s neck, hugging tightly.

“You might need one, I think.” She said, recalling how Ebony had come and woken her up at four in the morning and not going back to sleep. She grabbed the last item on her shopping list and began walking towards the checkout.

Ebony notices this. “Mummy, you said we could look at toys!”

“I did, didn’t I.” Lex says. “Just a quick look though, okay?”

“Okay.” She seemed to have regained her energy and wriggles down to the ground running ahead of Lex all the way to the toy aisle.

“Slow down.” She calls after her.

Ebony only slows down when she gets to her destination. She slowly moves down the aisle, looking at all the different toys. “These are the ones ‘Nana likes.” She says pointing at the funko pops.

“She likes arranging them.” Lex says.

“I like these ones.” She points at several brightly coloured beanie boos. “Which do ‘Livia like?” She asks.

“She likes any of the soft toys.”

“Which one, ‘Livia?” Ebony goes over to Olivia and picks her up out of the stroller. She struggles a little but manages to carry her over to one of the shelves. “You like these?” She asks pointing at some of the toys.

Olivia wasn’t a big fan of the way Ebony was holding her and started grumbling a little, kicking out her legs in an attempt to be put down.

“No? How about these?” She asks moving over slightly to stand in front of some other toys. During this move her grip on Olivia slips.

Lex quickly moves and picks up Olivia before she has a chance to fall to the ground. “I think that’s been enough looking. It’s time to go home now.” She said, putting the baby back into the stroller.

Ebony pouted, though still came over and took Lex’s hand as they moved over to the checkout. 

She had become tired once more, and Lex ended up carrying her most of the way home.

“Nap time for you, Ebbi.” She said when they got home.

“No mummy.” She said, clinging on to Lex who was trying to pack up the stroller one-handedly and ultimately failing.

“Olivia needs a nap too; you can have one together. How does that sound?” She asks as she makes a start on putting the groceries away.

“No.” She shook her head.

“You need a nap. Do you want me to lay with you for a bit?” Lex asked.

“Want daddy.” She says, burying her face into Lex’s shoulder.

“Dad’s at work. He won’t be home until dinner time.” She says.

“No daddy, no nap.” Ebony says rather defiantly, crossing her arms.

“You’re having a nap. You can lay with me.” She says, finishing off with the groceries before going and picking Olivia up off of the living room floor, where she’d left her. She puts her down in her cot before going into the girls’ room.

She climbs into Ebony’s bed with her and lays down.

“Don’t wanna nap.” She mumbles.

“I know, but you’re tired. It doesn’t have to be very long, okay?” She kisses Ebony’s forehead, and gently rubs her back.

It didn’t take overly long for Ebony to drift off to sleep. Lex waited a little longer before extracting herself. She goes and checks on Olivia, who is also asleep. Much as she’d like to go to sleep herself, she had work to get done and knew that it would be done quicker with both girls asleep.

She sets herself up on the table and is about to get started when she hears Olivia wake up. She sighs, so much for getting things done while they were asleep. At least with Olivia she could just put her down with a toy and she’d be happy.

Lex goes into Olivia’s room and picks her up out of her cot, bringing her back over to the table with her. 

She sits her on her lap and gives her a toy to fiddle with. Lex then started on her work. Hopefully Ebony would stay asleep for at least half an hour.

As it happened Ebony was still asleep by the time they needed to leave and pick up Hannah. Lex set Olivia up in the stroller before going into the bedroom to wake her up.

“Time to wake up, sleepy girl.” She says softly, picking Ebony up. She knew that it was highly likely that she would be carrying Ebony the entire way. “We gotta go pick up Hannah now.”

She grumbled and clung onto Lex, who was putting shoes on her feet before going back out to the stroller and leaving the apartment.

True to her suspicions, Ebony did not want to be put down the entire journey to and from the school, though she did perk up a bit when they met up with Hannah.

“I did good counting, ‘Nana.” She said on the way home. She’d switched to being carried by Hannah.

“That’s good, Ebbi. Can you show me?” Hannah asked.

“One, two, three, four, five, seven, six, eight.” She recited, looking very pleased with herself.

“It’s six then seven.” Hannah said, correcting her.

Ebony’s face fell and she immediately grew sad.

“The rest was really good though.” She said quickly, feeling bad for making Ebony feel sad.

She said nothing and just rested her head on Hannah’s shoulder as they continued the walk back to the apartment.

“Don’t worry, Banana.” Lex said, knowing that she was feeling bad. “She’s pretty tired and I had to wake her up from a nap right before we came to pick you up.”

She nods and gives Ebony a squeeze.

* * *

From the moment that Ethan had gotten home, Ebony had been attached to him. She hadn’t let him put her down once.

“Didn’t wanna have a nap without you.” She told him. “But mummy made me.”

“Well I get home a bit too close to bedtime for a nap.” He said while getting her ready for bed.

“Mummy says I was tired. I’m not tired, see, I’m awake.” She used her fingers to hold her eyes wide open.

“I see that.” He says. “But it’s bedtime now.”

“No. Wanna stay with you.” She said, hugging onto him as tightly as she could.

“I can stay with you for a little bit, but you need to be going to sleep.” He says, finishing off getting her into her pyjamas.

“Okay.” She lets go of him for the first time all evening and hops into her bed, patting the space next to her for him to come and lie down.

He comes over and climbs into bed next to her, making himself comfortable as she snuggles against him.

“Daddy?”

“Yeah.”

“When can I go to school?” She asks.

“When you’re five.” He says. “No more talking, it’s time for sleeping.” He rubs her back.

“I wanna go now though. I was doing counting and ‘Nana said I did it wrong so I wanna go to school and learn to do it properly.” She explained.

“You’re not old enough for school. But next year you can go to preschool.” He has a hard time believing that Ebony would be going to preschool the following year. She’ll always be a little girl to him.

“How long until then?”

“Not until after next summer.” He says. “You gotta go to sleep now, Ebbi. You can ask more questions in the morning.” He says, hoping to get her to settle down and go to sleep. She seemed to be much more awake then she had been before getting her ready for bed.

She harrumphed, before deciding that she was actually tired. “Na-night daddy.” She said sleepily.

“Night kiddo. I love you.” He said kissing the top of her head as she drifted off to sleep.

Like Lex had done he waited a little bit before extracting himself. He goes out into the living room where Lex and Hannah were watching TV together.

“Finally freed yourself, I see.” Lex says as he sits down next to her.

“Yep. Let’s see how long it lasts.” He says wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have no idea how hard it was not to have someone say "MY CABBAGES!" in that beginning bit. I was going to do it but didn't know how to fit it in.


	24. Chapter 74

“Okay, Hannah, you’re a teenager now, you’re going to do your own hair.” Lex says the morning after Hannah’s thirteenth birthday.

“I like you doing it.” She says.

“I know, but you’re doing it now, I’m not going to do it for you.”

“Why.”

“You know why.” Lex says, forcing her to take the hairbrush and hair ties. 

She grumbles to herself, harshly running the brush through her hair, getting frustrated every time it got snagged on a tangle. She wasn’t in the best of moods, and definitely not in the right frame of mind to do a careful job with her hair. 

She finishes brushing and begins to haphazardly braid it. She quickly grows frustrated and messes up her hair.

“Take a deep breath and try again.” Lex says. She decided that it would be best to still supervise even if she wasn’t going to do any braiding herself.

Hannah stimmed with her hands for a few moments before starting to braid her hair once more. She was still on the grumpy side and knew that she’d likely stay that way for the remainder of the day. She hated doing her hair. It was hard and she couldn’t do a good enough job. Lex always said that it looked fine, but it wasn’t just how it looked, it was also how it felt. It never felt right when she did it herself. Even if Lex did a subpar job, it still felt right.

Before she was even halfway done, she knew that she hadn’t done a good job. But she had a plan so that she’d never have to do her hair. Despite how much she hated how her hair felt, she finished the two braids.

“Good job, Banana.” Lex says, kissing the top of her head.

Hannah gave her the best smile she could muster. She stood up and left them room, bringing her schoolbag with her. She brought it out into the living room. As sneakily as she could she extracted a pair of scissors from her pencil case and slid them into the waistband of her pants.

“Watcha doing, Split?” Ethan asked, having spotted her. They both knew that she always went straight over to him to get lunch sorted after her hair was done.

“Nothing.” She said quickly before running as fast as she could into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

“Hannah?” He said questioningly. He knew she never went to the bathroom at this time, she was acting wildly outside of routine. She hated a break in routine.

Before she could think better of it, Hannah withdrew the scissors from her pants. She grabbed hold of one braid and cut it off, quickly followed by the other. She combed out her now rather short hair with her fingers. It felt different. She wasn’t sure if she liked it or not. But that didn’t matter. She wouldn’t have to braid her hair anymore now.

“Hannah, what are you up to? We gotta make lunch.” Ethan says through the door.

It was then that she realises that she was going to get in trouble. She wasn’t allowed to use scissors when she was frustrated. She didn’t feel very frustrated in that moment but knew she had acted out of frustration. She didn’t want to leave the bathroom. If she stayed put, then no one would know what she’d done, and she wouldn’t get in trouble.

“Hannah, you okay?” Ethan asked, starting to grow a little concerned after not getting a response from her.

“Yes.” She said. “I’m just peeing.” She didn’t know what to do. 

“Alright, be quick we gotta go soon and you still haven’t made your lunch.” He says.

She hears him walk away. Maybe she could run for her room. Or the front door. No, if she left the apartment she’d be in even more trouble.

She decides to aim for her room. Lex should have left it by this point. Unless she’s getting Ebony changed, but that normally didn’t happen until after she’d left for school.

As quietly as she could she unlocks the door and slowly turns the handle until it unlatches. She takes a deep breath and runs as fast as she can into her room, slamming the door shut behind her. Thinking quickly, she drags Ebony’s bed in front of the door.

“What’s she doing?” Lex asked, getting a glimpse of Hannah as she runs past.

“No idea.” Ethan says with a shrug. “She’d locked herself in the bathroom before.”

“That’s not part of her routine.” She said, starting to become slightly concerned. She goes over to the bedroom and tries to open it, though fails. “Hannah, open the door please.”

“No.” She says from the other side.

“Why not?” Lex asks.

“Don’t wanna get in trouble.”

“Why do you think you’re in trouble? You’ve gotta come out so you can go to school.” She was becoming both confused and concerned. What had Hannah done to make her think she was in trouble?

“Uh, babe.” Ethan said from behind her.

She turned to see him emerging from the bathroom holding up two braids and a pair of scissors. She stared at his findings with wide eyes. So, this was what Hannah had done.

Lex turned back to the bedroom door, knocking on it hard. “Open the door, Hannah.” She said. If she had chopped off all her hair on a whim, what else could she be doing in there? 

“No.” She said.

“Hannah Foster, you open this door right now.” Lex demanded, trying to force the door.

“Why’s mummy mad?” Ebony asked walking over to Ethan.

“Hannah’s been very naughty.” Ethan said. “Have you finished your breakfast?”

“Don’t want the rest.” She said. “Can I have toast?”

“You wanted cereal though. You gotta finish that if you want anything else.” He said, guiding her back towards the table and her neglected bowl of cornflakes.

“It’s yucky now.”

“You should’ve eaten it faster then.”

“Ethan, are you going to help me?” Lex said from where she was pressing her entire body weight against Hannah’s door.

“Go finish your cereal, Ebbi.” He said before going over to Lex, helping her push open the door.

“But daddy!” She follows him and starts hanging off of his leg.

“You chose cereal for breakfast. You need to finish it before you can have something else.” He says, still pushing against the bedroom door. They’d managed to open it up a crack.

Ebony harrumphed, letting go of his leg. She squeezed past Lex and managed to wriggle her way through the opening in the door, entering the bedroom. “Daddy, I’m gonna go to sleep and then wake up so I can choose breakfast again.” She called through the door. She sees that her bed has been moved to block the door. She gives Hannah a puzzled look. “’Nana, my bed moved.”

“Yeah, so mum and dad can’t get in and get me in trouble.” Hannah says.

“Why are you in trouble?”

“I used scissors when I was frustrated and cut my hair.” She explains. She goes to grab her braids to stim with them only to find that they weren’t there.

“Oh.” She looks from Hannah back to her bed. She decides that she wants it back where it normally was so begins pulling on it, trying to get it to move.

“Don’t Ebbi!” She rushes over and pushes Ebony out of the way. “We can’t let them get it.”

“But I wanna sleep so I get breakfast again.” She huffed.

“Well, sleep on it here or use my bed.”

“Use your bed for the door. I want my bed.” She crossed her arms, pouting.

“Yours was closer. I can’t start using my bed now because they’ll get it if I move your bed.” Hannah says.

“I want my bed!” She yells, shoving Hannah.

“Don’t push!”

“You pushed first!”

While the girls argue, Lex and Ethan manage to get the door open enough to get in.

“That’s enough!” Lex said loud enough for the girls to hear above their own yelling.

They freeze mid-argument, staring at her rather fearfully.

“Ebony, go and finish your cereal.” She instructs.

Ebony doesn’t try to argue, walking out of the room.

“And Hannah, might I ask what on earth you were thinking?” Lex asks.

She mumbled something incoherent, looking down at her feet.

“What was that?”

“Didn’t wanna have to do my hair.” She says louder this time.

“If you wanted to cut your hair, you could’ve asked, and you could’ve had one. You can’t just cut it because your frustrated with it.” Lex says.

“Am I in trouble?” She asks tentatively.

“Big trouble. But right now, you need to get to school. You’ll get your punishment when you come home.”

Hannah nods and hurries out of her room to go and get her lunch so Ethan could take her to school.

* * *

“How was school?” Lex asks as she collects Hannah that afternoon.

She shrugs and walks ahead with Ebony. She knew she was going to be in big trouble when they get home and is not looking forward to it. She’s been stressing about it all day.

“What’s wrong, ‘Nana?” Ebony asked, holding onto Hannah’s hand as they walked.

“Gonna get in trouble.” She mutters.

“Oh.” She says in response. “What’s mummy gonna do?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. She said she’d tell me what my punishment was when we got home.”

“Okay.” She reaches up her arms, telling Hannah that she wants to be picked up.

She shakes her head. “I don’t wanna carry you. Ask mum if you’re tired of walking.”

“Wanna be carried by you.”

“Well, I don’t want to.”

“Mummy.” Ebony says, turning and running back over to Lex and Olivia. “’Nana won’t carry me.”

“She doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to, Ebbi.” Lex says with a sigh. Ebony had been in an argumentative mood all day and would find the smallest thing to pick a fight or complain about.

“But I want her to carry me!”

“If she doesn’t want to carry you, you’ll just have to put up with that. I can carry you if you want.”

“No.” Ebony storms off to walk squarely between Lex and Hannah. She crosses her arms and makes each footstep a stomp.

It didn’t take much longer for them to get home. Ebony seemed to have gotten over Hannah not carrying and wanted to start playing with her.

“Hannah can’t play yet, Ebbi. Why don’t you play with Olivia for a bit?” Lex says, taking Olivia out of the stroller and placing her on the floor.

Ebony didn’t argue and sat down next to her sister and picked up a few toys for them to play with.

“Hannah, come with me.” She instructs taking her into Hannah’s bedroom. “Now you are aware that you are in trouble and are going to be punished.”

She nods, looking down at the ground.

“Good. The first part of your punishment is that you aren’t allowed to use scissors or anything sharp until Christmas. This includes at school. Understood?”

She nods again, fiddling with her fingers.

“Since you thought that cutting off your hair would be a good way to get out of learning how to do your hair, the second part of your punishment will be that you’ll have to do Ebony’s hair until you can do yours again.”

“What!” Hannah said, looking up from the ground looking rather upset.

“You’ll do Ebbi’s hair every morning before school so that you can keep on practising.” Lex says again.

“But…”

“No buts. You brought this upon yourself. You’ll also be giving the bathroom a thorough cleaning this weekend.” She says.

“That’s not fair!”

“No arguing Hannah. Those are the consequences of your actions.” With that she leaves Hannah alone in the room. She understood why Hannah was upset with her punishment. But Lex wanted to make sure that she didn’t try something like that again. She didn’t want Ebony to try something like that either. If she thought that making impulse decisions with scissors was okay, she could do worse next time. Lex did not want there to be a next time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Hannah's kinda been having it rough the last few chapters. But a lot of this is based off of things I did or wanted to do at her age, because it's really hard going into high school, when you're mentally not at high school age. But don't worry, thing'll get better for her.


	25. Chapter 75

All in all, Christmas hadn’t been as good as they had been expecting it to be. Both Hannah and Ebony had woken up exceptionally early, and as a result were rather tired and grumpy by midday.

Olivia had started babbling and rolling around. She would roll around as a way of getting around the apartment, and they had to keep a close eye on her as she often ended up getting stuck underneath various furniture items.

The constant babbling from Olivia wasn’t very helpful to Hannah’s mood. While she was excited that she’d be talking soon, the constant noise was starting to get on Hannah’s last nerve.

“Why won’t she be quiet?” She asked, going over to Lex.

“Because she’s a baby and she’s learning how to talk. Ebbi was like this, and so were you.” She explains, stopping Olivia from disappearing beneath the couch.

“But not constantly like this.”

“That’s not true. Both of you loved making noise.” She said, recalling how, even if it wasn’t very loud, Hannah was almost constantly babbling once she’d figured out how. She even had babbled versions of words she couldn’t say when she was a bit older. “Sometimes I had to cover your mouth so that no one would hear you in my locker.”

“Your school locker?” Hannah tilted her head to one side, confused.

“Yep.”

“What was I doing in there?” She asked.

“When you were a baby, I was the only person that could take care of you. I was too young to have a job so I couldn’t afford to pay someone to watch you while I was at school. So, I brought you with me, and kept you hidden in my locker. I would always go and check on you in the middle of each class when no one else was out in the corridor so that no one would find out about you.” She explained. She was surprised that she hadn’t told Hannah this story before.

“But someone did find out.” Ethan said, coming into the living after putting Ebony down for a nap.

“Who?” Hannah asked as he joined them on the floor.

“Me.” He said.

“Didn’t you know about me already?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t even know mum then.”

She looks between them surprised. She couldn’t imagine a time that they didn’t know each other. She had always assumed that they’d known each other their entire lives.

“It was actually me hiding you in my locker that led to us meeting. He could see my locker from his classroom and one day came out to see what I was doing.” Lex says. 

“I recall you threatening me when I saw Hannah there.” He said wistfully, planting a kiss on her cheek.

“I didn’t threaten you.” She says defensively.

“I think saying that you will ‘hunt me down and end me’ counts as a threat, babe.” He wraps an arm around her waist. “But you didn’t even have to threaten me, I wouldn’t have told anyone.”

“Why didn’t you want people to know about me?” Hannah asked.

“Because I was scared that someone would try and take you away from me.” Lex explains.

“Why would they do that?”

“Because people don’t think that a ten-year-old should be raising a baby.”

“Oh.” Hannah says. She had never really thought about how Lex was only ten years older than her. She thought back to when she was ten, she didn’t think would’ve been able to take care of a baby. She hadn’t been that competent at doing things for Ebony without help. “How did you know how to take care of me?”

“I didn’t. All I knew was that you’d need food and water. I didn’t know anything about babies.” Lex said. The first few months of Hannah’s life had been particularly challenging. Lex was entirely on her own with trying to figure out how to care for a baby. She knew some things from TV, like that she needed formula and nappies. She’d had to break into supermarkets to steal them, because she didn’t have any money to get them honestly.

“Didn’t dad help?”

“We didn’t meet until you were a little over a year old, and he didn’t know anything about babies either. Still doesn’t really.”

“Hey!” He said, nudging Lex’s side. “I know things.”

“You know the things I’ve told you.” She says.

“Yeah, but I still know them.”

“Okay, you know things. Happy now?”

“Very.” He gives her a quick kiss on the lips.

While they were momentarily distracted, Olivia managed to roll herself beneath the couch. From there she tried to sit up, resulting in her hitting her head on the hard frame that supported the couch. Immediately she began crying.

Ethan, realising what had happened, quickly pulls her out from beneath the couch and holds her in his arms. “It’s okay, it was just a bump.” He says, kissing her forehead. 

Olivia cries into his shoulder, fists grabbing hold of his shirt.

The noise rouses Ebony who wanders out of her bedroom, rubbing her eyes, looking rather grumpy. “Daddy.” She says.

“Yeah?” He looks over at her.

She doesn’t say anything else, just slumps against him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He wraps an arm around her, pulling her onto his lap. He kisses the top of her head, giving her a light squeeze.

Hannah shuffles closer to Lex, resting her head on her shoulder. “I think one day I’d like to visit Hatchetfield.” She says quietly.

Lex doesn’t say anything. She didn’t like the idea of Hannah going back there, and there was no chance she’d ever set foot in that town herself. But if it was something that Hannah really wanted to do then she’d let her when she’s older. She didn’t want to stop Hannah from doing something that she felt the need to do. She didn’t know how their childhood there was affecting her and didn’t want to stop her from coming to terms with it.

* * *

Lex had left the two younger girls in the living room to play while she did some work at the dining table. She could still see them, but they weren’t holding the entirety of her focus. Before starting on her work she’d built a little barricade around Olivia, stopping her from rolling off into some unknown corner. She and Ethan had started the barricade so that they were able to look away from Olivia for more than two seconds without having to worry about her disappearing. 

“Mummy.” Ebony said, coming over to her after about half an hour.

“Yes?” She said, looking away from the computer to look at her.

“I’m hungry.” She said, flopping the top half of her body onto Lex’s leg.

“You just had lunch, how are you hungry?”

She shrugs. “I dunno. Just am.”

“Alright, I’ll just finish what I’m doing then I can get you something to eat.” She said. She was starting to think that Ebony’s stomach was a bottomless pit from how often she claimed to be hungry.

Lex spent a few more minutes finishing off before rising from her seat and going into the kitchen. She glances at the living room on her way to check on Olivia but finds that she is not within the pillow walls of her barricade.

“Ebbi, where’s Olivia?” She asks, noticing that one of the pillows had been moved, leaving a decent sized opening.

“She was there.” Ebony says, pointing at the vacant spot on the carpet.

“Well, she’s not there now. Did you move that pillow?” She asks, knowing that Ebony was the only one who could’ve moved it.

“No.” She shakes her head.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay then.” Lex crouches down so she could look beneath the furniture, knowing it was the most likely place for Olivia to have rolled to. But she wasn’t there. Lex frowns. Where else could she have gone? Maybe she somehow managed to roll into another room without her noticing. “We’ve gotta find where she’s gone.”

“But I’m hungry.” Ebony whines.

“I’ll get you something to eat after we’ve found her.” She stands up and starts looking around for a path that Olivia might have taken to get into another room.

“But you said I could have food now.” She says, reluctantly following Lex as she ventures out of the living room.

“Well, now we’ve gotta find Olivia.” She goes into the girls’ bedroom looking beneath the beds, not finding the missing baby.

“What about me?”

“You’ll be okay a bit longer.” They leave the room before going next door into Olivia’s room, not finding her their either. Lex was starting to get a little worried. “Olivia, where are you?” She calls out.

“She can’t talk mummy.” Ebony says.

“I know but she might make some sort of noise and we can find her that way.” She says, going into hers and Ethan’s room. Olivia wasn’t there either. They continue checking the remaining rooms, looking under anything that Olivia might be able to get under. Lex was worried and confused. Where could Olivia go? She couldn’t walk or crawl or stand. All she could do was roll around and babble incessantly. But she wasn’t making a sound and wasn’t anywhere on the ground.

“Mummy I’m hungry.” Ebony complained, not helping in the search for her sister as she continued to follow Lex around the apartment.

“Ebbi, we need to find Olivia right now.” She said, rechecking everywhere she’d already looked.

“But mummy!”

“Not now, Ebony.” She was trying not to panic. Where on earth had Olivia gone? She had to be somewhere in the apartment, but whereabouts, she had no idea.

“Mummy!” Ebony started to throw a tantrum. She wasn’t invested in where Olivia was. All she wanted was food.

“Fine, I’ll get you something to eat.” She said. There was no way she was going to be able to deal with a tantrum and look for Olivia while trying not to panic. She took hold of Ebony’s hand and brought her into the kitchen, opening up the pantry to find a small snack for her.

Lying on the bottom shelf of the pantry was Olivia, fast asleep.

Lex let out a sigh of relief. She picks her up, holding her close as she continued to sleep, unaware of the worry she had caused. Lex has absolutely no clue as to how Olivia had gotten into the pantry, but she was glad that she was okay.

She quickly grabs some crackers for Ebony, shutting the pantry. Had she perhaps left the doors open and Olivia had managed to pull herself up onto the shelf? She was pretty sure she’d closed them though. Maybe she and Ethan needed to invest in some childproof locks.

She decides to send a text to him, letting him know what had happened.

> Is she okay? 

She replies to him.

> Yeah, she’s fine. Just freaked me out for a bit is all. 

> But how did she get onto the shelf? 

Ethan seemed just as confused as Lex was about the whole thing.

> No idea. But I think we might need to get some childproof locks. I don’t want her disappearing again. 

> I’ll grab some on my way home.

Lex sat back down at the table, sitting Olivia on her lap. Ebony was next to her, munching away on her crackers, leaving crumbs everywhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're halfway guys! Don't worry there's most definitely going to be at least a third instalment of this series. I've literally got a few plotlines for when Ebbi's 12 so we've still got a while to go, though those may just end up in the one-shot collection. But either way this is definitely going to go until she's 7, because I have plans. Mwahahahaha. (Don't worry their not evil plans)


	26. Chapter 76

Ebony ran into their room in the middle of the night, crying loudly. She goes straight over to Lex, climbing up onto her side of the bed.

Lex sits up, Ebony now on her lap. “Hey, what’s wrong?” She asks, wiping away a few tears before wrapping her arms around her daughter.

She clung on tightly to Lex, not saying anything as she cried into her shoulder.

“Was it a bad dream?” She asked, rubbing her back.

She nodded.

“It’s okay, it wasn’t real.” Lex said, kissing the top of Ebony’s head. She shuffled them so that she was resting her back against the pillow.

“What’s going on?” Ethan asked sleepily as he slowly was roused by Ebony’s continued crying.

“She had a bad dream.” Lex explains.

“I’m sorry, kiddo.” He said sympathetically, running a hand over her hair.

It was then that the baby monitor came to life with a mixture of cries and babbling from Olivia.

Ethan pushes back the covers. “I’ll go get her.” He says, giving Lex a quick kiss on the lips and ebony one on the top of the head before getting out of bed. He goes into Olivia’s bedroom, seeing her sitting up in her cot. “What are you doing up?” He asks, picking her up.

She smiles at him, happily babbling away. She reaches up and pats his cheeks. “Dada.” She says before continuing with her babbling.

He smiles widely at her, kissing her forehead. “Well done you clever girl.” He said. “let’s go rub this in mum’s face.” He and Lex had re-established the bet they’d had for Ebony’s first word, now having it for Olivia’s.

When he goes back into his bedroom, still carrying Olivia, he finds that Ebony has largely stopped crying.

“What’s got you so happy at two in the morning?” Lex asks upon seeing the wide smile he bore. 

“Olivia said her first word.” He said, sitting down on the bed next to her.

“Really?” Lex said, joining in on his smiling.

“Yep.” He holds Olivia out in front of him, having her face him. “Can you say it again?”

She just babbles for a little bit before once again patting his cheeks. “Dada.” She says.

“Would you look at that.” Lex says, smiling. She leans over and the side of Olivia’s head before she turns to Ethan. “You finally won something.”

He elbows her. “I win things.”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.” She then turns her attention back to Ebony. “How are you going, Ebbi. Do you wanna go back to sleep now?”

She shakes her head and hugs on tightly to her. “Too scary.” She mutters into Lex’s shoulder.

“Poor kid.” Ethan says, reaching out a hand to rub Ebony’s back. “Bad dreams are never fun.”

Lex nods, kissing the top of Ebony’s head. “Let’s lie down together for a bit, okay?” She says shuffling down so that she was lying on her back, Ebony curled up on top of her. 

“Don’t wanna sleep, mummy.” She said, on the brink of tears.

“You don’t have to sleep; we’re just lying down together.” Lex said before Ebony started crying again.

Slowly she nods, resting her head on Lex’s shoulder, sniffling slightly.

Ethan was humming softly, trying to get Olivia to settle down and go to sleep. Ever since she started babbling it had gotten a lot harder to get her to go to sleep, as she wouldn’t stop making noise.

“Dada!” She said, giggling.

“Yeah, that’s me.” He said. “It’s time to go to sleep now.” He started rocking her, trying to get her to settle down.

Olivia decided that she was going to be very much awake, despite the late hour. She started bouncing up and down in his arms, giggling the whole time.

Ethan decides to take her back to her own room, hoping it might get her into the sleeping mood. Also leaving this room meant that her giggling and babbling wouldn’t keep Ebony awake. He lays   
her down in her cot, humming a random tune for her.

She starts crying and reaching for him. “Dada.” She says.

He picks her back up and she immediately stops crying and starts back up on her babbling. He thinks that the bedroom isn’t going to work out, so he goes into the living room. He settles himself down on the couch, leaning back against the cushions. He lays Olivia down on his chest, draping a quilt over the top of them before turning on the TV. He finds some random show to watch and sets the volume down low.

Olivia becomes fixated by the images on the screen and stops babbling. Slowly her eyes grown heavy and she closes them, quickly falling asleep. She snores softly, dribbling onto Ethan’s shirt.

It doesn’t take much longer for Ethan to fall asleep also.

“What’re you doing, dad?” Hannah asks finding him still on the couch in the morning.

“Whatcha doing up, Split?” He asks, half asleep with his eyes still closed, not realising that he had fallen asleep and that it was now the next day.

“I have school.”

“But it’s the middle of the night.”

“It’s 7:30.” She says.

He opens his eyes, squinting in the sunlight filled room. He sits up carefully, Olivia still being asleep. “Did I fall asleep here?” He asks.

Hannah just shrugs. “Guess so.” She said before running off into the kitchen to get her breakfast.

He turns the TV off, a little annoyed with himself for letting it run all night, before standing up. He lets out a yawn, stretching out the arm that wasn’t holding Olivia, before following Hannah into the kitchen.

“That’s too many cornflakes, Hannah.” Lex said, supervising her make breakfast. “You won’t be able to eat them all before they get all soggy.”

Hannah grabbed a handful and put it back in the box before adding a sea of milk into her bowl. 

“Morning babe.” She says when she spots him enter the kitchen. She gives him a quick kiss on the lips. “How’d you sleep?”

“Not as well as I would’ve liked.” He said. “How ‘bout you? Did you get Ebbi back to sleep?” He asks, fixing up his own bowl of cereal.

“She went back to sleep after I told her a story. Took me a bit longer.” She shrugs.

“Dada.” Olivia said, slowly waking up.

“Morning, kiddo.” He said, kissing the top of her head.

“She can talk now?” Hannah asked.

“Yep, she can say a word.” Ethan said.

“Good job, Livi.” She said, giving her head a few pats before leaving for the table with her cornflakes.

* * *

It was a wet and rainy day, so Ethan was in charge of picking Hannah up from school. They had piled themselves into the car, Hannah wrapped up in her large raincoat.

“How was school?” He asked, driving out of the school car park.

“Okay.” She shrugged. She wasn’t in the best of moods due to the rain.

“What did you get up to?”

“Not much.” She opens up her schoolbag, fishing out her headphones and putting them on. The noise from the heavy raindrops hitting the car roof was starting to bother her.

Ethan took the headphones to mean that she didn’t really feel like having a conversation, so relented from asking her any more questions. He didn’t blame her for being grumpy on a day like today. He hadn’t had the best of days because of the weather either.

Hannah started humming to herself, enjoying how it sounded with her headphones on. She leans away from the door and windows. She reaches out a hand to trace over the different buttons on the car stereo. She didn’t know what all of them did and was too scared of what would happen to actually press them. But she liked how smooth they were and enjoyed wiping the dust off of them. Her favourite button was that of the volume control. She thought it was so cool how one could turn the nob to adjust the volume or press down on it to turn the stereo off. She pushed down on the button, turning off the sounds of the radio.

Ethan glances at her, trying to figure out what she was up to.

She turns the stereo back on, before turning it back off.

He smiles, knowing she was playing. While the intermittent sound from the radio was a little annoying, he didn’t mind. He could put up with the annoyance if it was making her happy.

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at their apartment building. Ethan quickly drives into their parking space and turns off the car.

Hannah pushes the volume button a few more times before climbing out of the car, kicking her door shut to avoid touching the wet surface.

The two of them walk up the flight of stairs to their floor. They walk along the hallway before coming to their door.

Upon opening it they are hit with the sounds of Ebony having a rather loud tantrum, the noise seemingly causing Olivia to cry.

“It’s raining, Ebbi. Dad’s going to pick up Hannah.” Lex said for the millionth time. She was crouched on the ground by Ebony, holding onto her while Olivia was clinging onto her from where she sat on Lex’s hip. Lex knew that Ebony always got a bit upset whenever they didn’t follow the picking Hannah up routine, but she’d never had a tantrum over not doing it. 

“Wanna go!” Ebony cried, pushing against Lex.

“We can’t go. It’s raining outside.” She said. They had been going in a loop like this for over half an hour now. Ever since Ebony realised that they weren’t leaving to get Hannah.

Lex looks over at the door, seeing that Hannah and Ethan had arrived home. “Look.” She points over to them. “Hannah and dad are here.”

Ebony looks over them, rubbing a few tears from her eyes. She wanders over to the door and grabs hold of Hannah’s hand and walks her back over to Lex. “Picked up ‘Nana, mummy.”

“Good job.” She says giving a rather relieved smile now that the tantrum seemed to be over.

Now that Ebony wasn’t continuously crying and yelling, Olivia quickly calmed down. She rests her head on Lex’s shoulder, sucking on her thumb.

The two older girls go off into their room to start playing some sort of game while Lex walks over to Ethan. She leans into him, glad that he was home a little earlier than normal.

“Long day?” He asks, kissing the top of her head, rubbing her back.

She nodded.

“Dada.” Olivia said, reaching for him.

He takes her from Lex.

“How about your day?” She asks.

He shrugs. “Could have been better. The roof started leaking so everything was wetter than normal when it rains.” He says with a sigh.

She gives him a sympathetic look. “Was Hannah okay when you picked her up?”

“Yeah, bit grumpy, but she cheered up a little when she decided to play with the on/off button of the car stereo.” He said.

She nods. “I day we get take away for dinner. It feels like that sort of night.” She says, changing the topic.

“Agreed.” He says.


	27. Chapter 77

“So, I’m yellow and you’re purple. What’s everyone else’s colours?” Hannah asked. She and Ebony were meant to be going to sleep, but instead they were having a midnight picnic in the middle of their bedroom floor. This wasn’t the first time they’d done this. Every now and then Hannah sneak away some food and they’d stay up late chatting and eating.

“Mummy’s red, daddy’s blue and Livi’s pink.” Ebony said, picking up a strawberry from the punnet Hannah had taken from the kitchen.

“What about Cody?”

“He’s red. Different to mummy’s red though.” She says after thinking for a moment.

Hannah nods, trying to properly understand the colours. “Does Webby have a colour?” She asks.

Ebony nods. “White.”

“But you don’t hear Webby, how does her colour work?” She asked, frowning while she picked up a cracker, nibbling on it.

“When you say Webby things it’s white.” She explained, picking up another strawberry.

“Okay.” She says finishing off her cracker and picking up a strawberry.

“How come I see colours?” Ebony asked. Seeing everyone’s colours was normal to her but she knew that other people didn’t.

Hannah shrugs. “Maybe you can see colours for the same reason I can hear Webby.”

“What reason?”

“I don’t know. To help, I guess. Webby warns me when something bad is gonna happen.”

Ebony nodded. She finished her strawberry and let out a yawn.

“Does everyone have a colour or is it just people you know?” Hannah asked.

She thought for a moment. “Strangers are grey.” She says after a moment.

Through the wall they hear Olivia wake up and start crying. This happened sometimes during their midnight picnics. They just had to stay quiet and hop back into their beds. Lex or Ethan would always check on them whenever they got up for Olivia. So, they’d pretend to be asleep and were quickly left alone.

They quickly finished off their mouthfuls of food while they heard Olivia’s door open as one of the parents entered. They soon heard her stop crying while Ethan spoke to her.

The two of them got up from their picnic and headed straight for their beds, though on the way Ebony tripped over something in the dark. She landed on the ground with a loud thud.

“Ebbi!” Hannah whispered loudly, both concerned for Ebony and for whether or not this blunder would get them caught. She goes over to her and picks her up just as Ethan opens up the bedroom door, Olivia in his arms.

“Everything okay?” He asks, having heard Ebony fall and now seeing her being lifted up by Hannah.

“Ebbi fell over, I’m helping.” Hannah said, looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

It’s then that Ethan spots the leftover food by her feet. “That’s not all you’re up to, it seems.” He says, nodding at their picnic things.

“That’s left over from our afternoon snack.” She said quickly, hoping he believed her.

“Right.” He said nodding, though soon stops and frowns. “Mum wouldn’t let you eat in your room.” He says. He knew that Hannah might be able to get away with having a plate of something in there, but Ebony wouldn’t and the food on the ground wasn’t on plates.

“She did. As a special treat.” She smiled sweetly at him.

“Alright then. I’ll just go ask her to make sure.” He makes to leave the room.

“No!” Hannah says quickly. She knew that she’d get in less trouble if it was just Ethan dolling out punishment. She could just give him puppy dog eyes, and all would be forgiven.

“Ah-huh.” He spun back around, knowing he was now going to get a confession out of her. “So, what were you really up to?” He asks.

She sighs, putting Ebony back down. “Midnight picnic.” She mutters.

“They’re fun.” Ebony adds, bending down to sneak another strawberry.

“You’ve had more than one of these?” He asks, mainly directing his question at Hannah.

Reluctantly, she nods.

“How many have you had?”

“Not many. Less than ten.” She says. She’d lost track of how many they’d actually had but felt that less than ten would be a number that wouldn’t get them into too much trouble. Not with Ethan at least.

“Right.” He wasn’t sure if she was lying about the number or not. “Well, it doesn’t matter how many you’ve had, you’re not having any more.”

“No.” Hannah said. She goes over to him, hugging him why giving him the best puppy dog eyes she could muster. “Can’t we keep having them?”

He looked down at her. He had to say no. The girls couldn’t keep doing this. It was just so hard to say no to Hannah when she was looking at him like that. “Banana, you know you’re not supposed to have them.” He said. It was the best he could come up with that hinted at the ‘no’ without him having to outright say it.

“But it’s good sister bonding.” She argues, leaving him to go back and pick up Ebony. Both of them gave him the puppy dog eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that.” He said with a sigh. “I’m meant to be telling you off.” One set of puppy dog eyes he could maybe deal with, but two was near impossible. He couldn’t say no when they ganged up on him like this. Maybe he should’ve gotten Lex.

“We like having our special picnics. It makes us happy. Don’t you want us to be happy, dad?” Hannah said. She was trying to get him to fold and let them get away with their picnics.

“Of course, I want you to be happy. But having picnics in the middle of the night isn’t a good idea. Right now, you’re meant to be in bed asleep. You can be happy during the day.” He says. He felt like he was doing a pretty good job of staying strong and not giving into the puppy dog eyes, much as he’d like to. And he really did want the girls to be happy but being up in the middle of the night wasn’t something they should do. It was hard enough getting them off to bed, he didn’t need their sleep cycles disrupted on top.

“Please, daddy.” Hannah said. 

“Please, daddy.” Ebony echoed.

“I’m sorry, but these can’t keep happening.” He said, standing his ground, surprising himself in doing so. “Come on, let’s clean all this up.” He gestures at the leftover strawberries and crackers.

“But we don’t wanna have to stop.” Hannah whined. She really liked having the midnight picnics with Ebony. They always made night-time more enjoyable. She always looked forward to them. They were something that helped her feel normal. It was the sort of thing that happened in her books; these secret sibling rendezvous where they could talk for hours about whatever they wanted with no adults in sight. 

“These can’t keep going, Hannah. Now help me clear all this up, or do you want me to go wake up mum?” He was definitely going to have to tell Lex about how well he had resisted not one, but two sets of puppy dog eyes. She’d be so proud of him.

Hannah put Ebony down and started helping Ethan clear up the food. She didn’t want Lex to know about these, if she found out then she’d be in real trouble. Ethan always let her off with a warning, he never actually doled out any real punishment. She supposed that if they had to get caught in the midst of a picnic, that she was glad that it had been him to discover their midnight secret.

She doubted that the picnic would be over for very long. She and Ebony would come up with a way of being sneakier. They’d have to come up with a better system for when they were checked on in the middle of the night. She wasn’t allowed to go out on adventures, so this was as close as she could get to being like her books. 

* * *

All three of the girls had managed to catch colds at the same time. None of them were having the best time of it. Hannah and Ebony spent all day cuddled up on the couch together watching TV,   
while Olivia spent her time crying.

“Mama.” She reached for Lex, tears falling down her cheeks as she felt the effects of the cold.

“Your medicine’s wearing off, isn’t it?” She said, picking her up. She rubs Olivia’s back trying to soothe her. She still had to wait at least another hour before she could have another dose, and Lex wanted to try and push it until it was time for bed so that she’d be able to get some sleep.

“Mummy.” Ebony called from the couch, followed by a string of coughs.

“Yes?” She goes over to her.

“My throat hurts.” She says, looking up at Lex rather sadly.

“Would you like me to get you some juice?” She asks, smoothing Ebony’s hair off of her face.

She nods, moving to rest her head against Hannah’s arm.

Lex goes into the kitchen and pours out a cup of juice, bringing it back over to the couch and handing it over to Ebony. “Sit up and use two hands.” She says before turning her attention to Hannah. “How are you going, Banana? Do you want me to get you anything?”

Hannah just shrugged, not taking her eyes off of the TV.

“Well, let me know if there’s anything, okay?” She says.

“Okay.” She whispers. “Livi can cuddle with us if you want to do work.” She says after thinking a moment.

“Are you sure?”

Hannah nods, and takes Olivia from Lex.

“Okay then. Call out if any of you need anything or if you don’t want to hold onto Livi anymore.” She gives each of the girls a kiss on the forehead before going over to the table where all her work things were sitting. She finished setting it all up before getting to work.

After about half an hour Ebony came over to her. She didn’t say anything, simply climbing up into Lex’s lap, where she cuddled into her.

Lex kissed the top of her head. “You going okay?” She asked, rubbing Ebony’s back.

She shrugs, resting her head against Lex’s chest.

They stay that way for the rest of the day until Ethan came home. 

“How are you two going?” He asked, going over to where Hannah and Olivia still were on the couch. Olivia had fallen asleep and Hannah had laid her across the cushions.

She shrugs. She normally would jump up and give him a hug whenever he got home, but right now she didn’t feel like moving at all.

“Any better from this morning?”

She shrugs again.

He gives her a kiss on the forehead and a sympathetic smile before going over to Lex and Ebony at the table. He coughs a few times into his elbow.

“You’re not sick too, are you?” Lex asked.

“Maybe?” He says.

“Daddy.” Ebony says, reaching towards him.

He picks her up. “Hey, kiddo.” He says, kissing the top of her head. He turns his attention back to Lex, Ebony resting her head on his shoulder. “How have they been?” He asks.

“They’ve been alright. All they’ve done is just watch TV all day and nap.” She says.

“Yeah, I didn’t think they would’ve done too much. But you were okay taking care of them all?”

She nods. “I told you we’d be fine.” There had been a few points in the day when she had found it hard to balance taking care of the three girls, with them all wanting her attention for different things. They were mostly good though. Hannah seemed to be becoming more able to do things for herself and not needing Lex’s help as much. She was glad that Ethan was home now and that it was the weekend tomorrow. Hopefully the girls would all sleep through the night and be feeling better in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah the ending was weird, I don't even know where I was going with it so just sort of ended it there.


	28. Chapter 78

“Bike! Bike! Bike!” Hannah chanted, following Ethan around the apartment.

“Bike!” Ebony said, following along behind Hannah.

“We’re going on a bike ride.” He said, having put up with the incessant chanting all morning. “You’ll just have to wait until after lunch, okay?”

“Bike now!” Hannah started to chant. She’d already been waiting to go out for ages and was running out of patience.

“Bike now!” Ebony echoed.

“You have to wait a little longer.” He said, going into the kitchen to make them lunch. The girls followed closely behind him.

“Bike now!”

He turned around, facing them and covered their mouths. “We’re having lunch first then we’ll go for a bike ride. But if you keep chanting, we won’t go at all.” He had gotten completely fed up with their bike chant. He didn’t even know why Ebony was so keen, seeing as she didn’t have a bike, nor knew ow to ride one. He supposed she was just copying Hannah, which she was prone to do.

“Bike!” Ebony said, when Ethan took his hand away from her mouth, still thinking that was what they were doing.

“Shush, Ebbi.” Hannah said elbowing her. “Or we won’t get to go.”

She gasped, covering her mouth.

Ethan let out a sigh of relief, glad to finally have a respite from the chanting. He knew the silence wouldn’t last long, so was going to enjoy it now while he could. He started making lunch for everyone.

Ebony decided to climb up him, hanging off of his shoulders.

“I can’t hold onto you, Ebbi. I need two hands to make lunch.” He said.

She didn’t seem to mind and was happily hanging onto him.

Hannah seemed to want to join in. Though she didn’t climb him, she hugged onto him.

He continues to make lunch as best as he could with the two of them attached to him.

“Ebbi, get your butt out of my face.” Hannah said after a few minutes, trying to push Ebony out of her way.

“Don’t push.” She says, forcing herself to be more in Hannah’s way then before.

“I won’t push if you don’t get in the way.”

“I was here first.”

“Hey, no fighting.” Ethan cut in, trying and failing to separate the girls that were behind him.

Ebony started kicking at Hannah from her perch off his shoulders.

“Ow!” She exclaimed, hitting back.

“Stop hitting!”

“You kicked me first!”

“Stop it both of you.” Ethan said over them. He manages to turn around so that Hannah was now in front of him, with Ebony still behind. “Do you want to go out or not?”

“We do.” Hannah said, nodding her head.

“Then you need to settle down and stop fighting with each other.” He said, pulling Ebony down putting her on the floor in front of him.

“But Ebbi started it” She said, pointing accusatorily “I was being good.”

Ebony glared at her, sticking out her tongue.

“You were both to blame.” He said. “If you want to go bike riding then you need to start getting along again, or we won’t be going.” He did not want to have to deal with fighting girls at the park. If they were going to be at each other’s throats he’d much rather it be at home.

“Fine.” She said, crossing her arms.

“Friends again, ‘Nana.” Ebony said, giving her a hug.

“Yeah, we’re friends again.” She says, hugging back.

“Bike now!” She says, letting go of Hannah and going back to Ethan, hanging off of his leg.

“Yeah, bike now!” She said, hugging Ethan once more.

“After you’ve eaten your lunch.” He said, having somehow managed to make them each a sandwich. He hands the food over to them and herds them over to the table to eat.

* * *

“Fort! Fort! Fort!” Hannah had started chanting.

“Fort!” Ebony echoed, following her inside the apartment after their time at the park.

Ethan followed behind him, having somehow ended up pushing the bike with one hand and holding Olivia with the other. He had decided to bring Olivia with them to give Lex a break. She’d caught the girls’ cold as soon as they had recovered from it.

The older two girls race into their bedroom, largely ignoring Lex where she was lying on the couch.

Ethan leans the bike against the table and goes over to her. “How are you going, babe?” He asks, sitting next to her.

She sits up, leaning against him. “Not too bad.” She says, punctuating her words with several coughs.

“I see that.” He says, wrapping an arm around her and giving her a squeeze.

“How were the girls?” She asked as Olivia crawled onto her lap.

“They were themselves.” He says, feeling like that would adequately describe the mixture of Hannah and Ebony switching between being best friends and arch enemies. For the most part they got along really well, though sometimes they’d just fight. The main course of fighting had been Ebony wanting to have a go on Hannah’s bike, which of course she was too small for and didn’t know how to ride. The girls were now back to being friends and were quite determined to build a fort in their bedroom.

“Right.” Lex said, completely understanding. “What were they fighting about this time?”

“Ebony wanted to ride Hannah’s bike. I think she might’ve thought that when we went for a bike ride, that she’d get to be doing some bike riding.” He explained.

“Maybe we should get her a bike, if she seems interested enough in it.” She suggested.

“Yeah, maybe for her birthday. That’s coming up.” 

It would be good for Ebony to get a bike. She had always seemed interested in Hannah’s. And when Ebony inevitably outgrew the bike, they’d get her, then Olivia could ride it.

“Daddy.” Ebony said running into the room. “Need to come help.” She grabbed his arm, pulling him to get to his feet.

“Okay, I’ll be there in a sec.” He told her.

“Okay.” She said, running back into her room to wait.

“Want me to take Liv?” He asked Lex.

“Nah, she can stay if she wants.” She said, smiling down at her daughter, who seemed happy to sit in her lap.

He kisses the side of Lex’s head. “Let me know if I can do anything for you.” He said, standing up off of the couch.

“Will do. Have fun with the girls.” She said.

“Sure thing.” He said, heading into the girls’ room where they were sitting waiting for him. 

They had grabbed all the blankets and pillows they could find, having even stripped their beds for fort building material.

“Fort time!” Hannah said, punching a fist into the air.

“Fort time!” Ebony said, copying her.

“Right.” Ethan said, surveying the room and its mass of blankets. “Where do you want it?” He asks.

“Between beds.” Hannah said, getting up and running through the area that she wanted to turn into a fort.

“Well, you’re gonna need something to hold the blankets to your beds, and something to go in the middle otherwise your roof will collapse.” He said.

Hannah thought for a moment before something up with a solution. “Ebbi, go get a chair, I’ll get some big heavy books and some pegs.”

Ebony nodded and ran out to the table to get a chair. She sees Lex on the couch as she goes past. “We’re making a fort, mummy.” She says excitedly, starting to drag the chair which was a little bit heavy and tall for her to carry.

“I heard.” She said, getting up from the couch and going over to her. “Let me carry that for you, I don’t want you to scratch up the floor.” She picked up the chair with one arm, the other still carrying Olivia, who hadn’t wanted to be put down.

“Thanks, mummy.” Ebony said racing back to her room to meet up with Hannah.

“Where’s the chair?” She asked when she saw that Ebony had returned empty handed.

“Mummy’s gonna bring it.” She explained sitting down in front of Hannah ready to receive her next task in fort building.

“What do we do next?” She asked turning to Ethan.

“Make a roof out of the blankets.” He said, standing to the side as the girls pulled out the blankets they’d gathered, trying to figure out which were the biggest and therefore make the best roof.

Lex came in with the chair and Hannah came over and took it from her, placing it squarely between the two beds. She draped a large blanket over the chair, pulling out the end to reach her bed.

“Can you help me get it to stay?” She asked, looking at Ethan.

“Sure.” He said. He goes over to her, taking two of the blankets corners and tying them together around her bed post.

Hannah goes back over to the chair and pegs together the blanket around the chair back.

They continue on like this for the remainder of the afternoon. Ethan delving out instructions while Hannah ran around the room to follow them. Ebony would join in with whatever bits she could manage, but mostly just jumped excitedly up and down while watching the fort’s construction.

Lex had decided to stay and watch as well, sitting in an out of the way corner of the room with Olivia, who kept trying to stand.

Eventually the fort was finished to Hannah’s satisfaction. She and Ebony grabbed all their pillows and cuddly toys and shoved them inside before climbing in themselves. They immediately started playing some sort of game, having a great time. 

Ethan comes over and sits beside Lex, wrapping an arm around her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

She rests her head on his shoulder as Olivia moved from her lap to Ethan’s. “Have fun being the architect?” She asked him.

“Well, it was more fun than playing tea parties. It was good to spend time with them. It was nice how they just assumed I knew everything there is to know about making a fort.” He said. He didn’t think he’d made a fort since he was about eight. They’re not as fun when you don’t have anyone to make them with.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it.” She says, kissing him. “And I know you secretly love those tea parties.”

“No comment.” He said, smiling at her.

She laughs. “What are the odds that they’re gonna want to have a tea party in the fort with you?”

“There’s no way I’m gonna fit in there.” He said. He wasn’t confident enough in the height and structural integrity of the fort for him to easily enter exit and sit up in it.

Hannah then stuck her head out of the opening between blankets being used as a door. “Mum, can we have dinner in here?” She asked, Ebony sticking out her head too.

“I don’t think so. It’ll be too messy.” Lex said. She wasn’t totally confident in the fort’s ability to stay upright for the length of time until dinner and didn’t want it to collapse on top of any food. She also didn’t trust the girls to not spill anything. Hannah was pretty good, but Ebony often got a bit over excited and got her food everywhere.

“Please?” Ebony said, giving her puppy dog eyes.

“Sorry, it’s a no.” Lex said, the puppy dog eyes having absolutely no effect on her.

It was during that conversation that Olivia had crawled over to the fort unnoticed. She was over by the edge that was at Ebony’s bed. She wanted to have a go at standing on her own without any sort of assistance from Lex. She grabbed hold of the edge of the bed and pulled herself up onto her feet. 

She lost her footing a little, and in her attempts to regain it shifted her hands from the sturdy bed to the flimsy blanket that was part of the fort. Choosing such a surface caused her to fall over completely, landing on top of the blanket. The force of her falling on it caused it to come away from the bed and in a chain reaction, completely demolished the fort, burying Hannah and Ebony in a mountain of blankets.

“Uh oh.” Olivia said before beginning to cry from her fall. She pulls herself back up to her feet, surveying the destruction she had inadvertently caused.

“No!” Hannah cried when she realised that all the hard work she had done had completely fallen apart.

Ebony was also crying, mainly from the surprise of the fort falling on top of her.

Lex and Ethan went straight over to the three of them, pulling Hannah and Ebony out from underneath the mass of blankets, beginning to comfort them.

“How’d it fall over?” Hannah asked, rather upset and frustrated.

Lex and Ethan glanced at each other. Both had realised that it had been Olivia that had caused the collapse but didn’t want Hannah to get upset with her, seeing as she’d hit the milestone of standing.

“It mustn’t have been as sturdy as we thought.” Ethan said. “We’ll just have to try again tomorrow.”


	29. Chapter 79

Ethan was teaching Ebony how to ride her bike, which she’d gotten for her birthday, while Hannah rode in circles around them. She was managing to pick up the skill rather quickly. Most likely due to having watched Hannah do it so often. Her bike did have training wheels, just to make sure she stayed upright.

Lex watches from where she’s pushing Olivia on the swings. She can’t help but think back to how all their troubles with Ethan’s parents had started around the time when he was teaching Hannah how to ride a bike. And how it had been a little over a year since the run in with them. They hadn’t heard a whole lot from his parents since that day, and Lex was happy to keep it that way. She’d hardly heard from Veronica in the past year as well and was starting to think that maybe they were finally being left alone.

She knew that part of Ethan wanted to have a good relationship with his parents, but it was unlikely to occur with how they treated Lex and the girls. He had had a good relationship with them when he was younger, but it had slowly deteriorated as he got older and chose to spend more time with Lex and Hannah. 

“Mama.” Olivia said, reaching out to her.

“Had enough swinging, have you?” She said, picking her up out of the swing and sitting Olivia on her hip.

She points over to where Hannah and Ebony were riding their bikes under Ethan’s supervision.

“They’re riding their bikes.” She said, starting to walk over to them. “How are they going?” She asks Ethan when she reaches him.

“They’re certainly enjoying themselves.” He said, his smile full of pride as he watched the two older girls. “Ebony’s picked it up surprisingly quickly.” He adds.

Ebony couldn’t ride nearly as fast as Hannah, and still had a bit of trouble with the coordination but was riding exceptionally well otherwise. 

“Daddy, say ready, set, go.” Ebony said as she and Hannah lined themselves up preparing for a race.

“Ready, set, go!” He said.

They zoomed off, Hannah going significantly faster. They were both pedalling as fast as they could towards the agreed upon finish line. Ebony stuck her tongue out in concentration as she worked to keep up with Hannah.

It didn’t take long for Hannah to cross the finish line. “I win!” She called out, grinning widely. She could become very competitive and loved winning.

“I wanted to win.” Ebony whined as she came panting to the finish line.

“But you didn’t. Wanna race back?” She was fairly confident that she could get a second win.

“Okay, but I win this time.” She said.

“Not if I win first. Ready, set, go!” She says, starting to pedal as fast as she could.

“I wasn’t ready!” Ebony yelled, rather upset. She rides her bike to the finish line where Hannah is waiting. She gets off of her bike and stamps her foot angrily. “Wasn’t ready.” She says again.

“I said ready, set, go.” Hannah said, not really seeing the problem. 

“But I wasn’t ready.” She whined. “And I was meant to win.”

“You should’ve been ready then.” She said with a shrug.

“Mum.” Ebony said going over to Lex.

“Yes?”

“’Nana started the race before I was ready. And she won when it was my turn.”

“Did you tell her you weren’t ready?”

“Uh huh.” She nodded.

Lex looks over to Hannah. “You’ve gotta wait for Ebbi to be ready before you start your races, okay?”

“But mum, I said ready, set, go.” She said defensively, slightly annoyed that Ebony had roped Lex into their discussion. 

“Did you see if she was actually ready though?”

“No.” Hannah muttered, avoiding eye contact. 

“So, next time you’ll make sure she’s ready first, okay?” She said.

“Okay.”

“And it’s my turn to win.” Ebony added.

“We don’t take turns winning. You either win or you don’t.” Hannah said, not wanting to let Ebony win.

“You always win, I wanna turn.” She whined. “Mum, tell ‘Nana it’s my turn to win.” She says, tugging on Lex’s arm that isn’t holding Olivia.

Lex sighs. “Hannah, can you let Ebbi have a turn at winning please.”

“If she wants to win, she should try harder.” Hannah says, crossing her arms.

“I try!”

“She is trying. She’s just smaller than you so she can’t go as fast as you can. So, could you let her have a turn at winning please.” Lex said. Until Ebony had come along Hannah had always been the smallest. Lex and Ethan had always let her win, had always gone easy on her because she was smaller than them. Hannah didn’t quite understand that due to Ebony being so much younger and smaller than her that she physically wasn’t able to win fair and square in a race.

“Fine.” She huffed, not pleased at all. She didn’t want to lose, let alone do it on purpose.

“Yay!” Ebony said, much happier now. She goes and gives Hannah a quick hug before hopping back on her bike. “Race now?”

“Yeah, okay.” She said, getting onto her own bike. She didn’t really want to race if she was going to have to lose.

“Daddy?” Ebony looks over at Ethan, waiting for him to start the race.

“Ready, set, go!” He said.

Ebony zoomed off, pedalling as fast as she could. Even though she knew she was going to win she still wanted to try her hardest. Maybe next time she’d be able to beat Hannah properly.

Hannah didn’t move at all after the race had begun. If Ebony was going to win, there was no point in her riding at all.

“Why aren’t you going?” Ethan asked her.

She shrugs. “No point if I gotta let her win.” She gestures in Ebony’s direction.

“You can ride to be a good sport. Give her a proper race, even if you have to throw it.” He said, going over to her. “I know you don’t like losing, but neither does Ebbi, and she loses a lot more than you do. But you don’t have to think about winners and losers, just think about riding for the fun of it.” He suggests.

“I like riding.”

“I know you do, so why not ride now?” He gives her an encouraging smile.

After thinking for a few seconds, she starts pedalling. 

* * *

Olivia was officially one year old. Lex couldn’t believe how quickly the year had gone by. All the girls were growing up fast. A little too fast for her liking.

Olivia had started trying to walk, and Lex knew it was only a matter of time before she started running around with Hannah and Ebony. It was going to be hard to keep an eye on them when they ran around the place. It would only get harder if Lex and Ethan ended up having more kids. She knew that he wanted more, and she wasn’t opposed to the idea. In the back of her mind she knew that they’d probably have more.

Ebony came over and sat in her lap, breaking her out from her thoughts.

“Mummy.” She said.

“Yes?”

“Livi’s one now, isn’t she?”

“She is.” Lex said, nodding.

“When was I one?” She asked, fiddling with Lex’s hair.

“Three years ago.”

“That’s a long time ago. I don’t remember being one.” She said.

“You were very little then. I’d be surprised if you remembered anything.” She said. It was crazy thinking that it had been three years since Ebony turned one. Four years since she had been born. She couldn’t believe how fast time had gone. 

“When was ‘Nana one?” She asked, continuing to play with Lex’s hair.

“Almost thirteen years ago.” She also couldn’t believe how much time had passed since Hannah had been born. Life before Hannah had been lonely and sad. And in a few months, she’d be fourteen. She’d be going into year eight.

Hannah’s life was totally different to how Lex’s had been at the same age. At fourteen Lex was working as many hours as she possibly could so that she could get Hannah everything she needed. She’d been making sure Hannah was being taken care of at her preschool.

Lex was glad that Hannah didn’t have the same worries that she’d had. She wanted her kids to enjoy childhood for as long as they could. She didn’t want them growing up too quickly.

“That’s a million years ago.” Ebony says, not able to imagine having been alive for so long. “How old were you when ‘Nana was one?” She asked.

“Eleven.” She replied.

“That’s littler than she is now.” She says after a few moments of thinking.

“It is.” Lex nods.

“What about daddy?”

“He was eleven as well.”

“Are you the same age?” She asks, tilting her head to one side.

“Yes.” 

“I though daddy was way older.”

She laughs. “He’s only a few months older than me.” She says, looking over to Ethan to see if he’d heard what Ebony had said. He wasn’t listening to them and was playing with Olivia and some of her new toys.

“Why aren’t me and ‘Nana and Livi the same age?” She asked. It seemed she was very much full of age-related questions at the moment.

“Because you were born at different times.”

“Why?”

“You just were.”

“Why.” She asked again.

“That’s just how it worked out.” Lex said.

“Why is ‘Nana a lot older than me?” She asked.

“Because she was born ten years before you.” She said. 

“Nine and a half.” Hannah said sitting down next to them and joining in on their conversation. “Not ten. Ten is a big gap, nine and a half isn’t as big.”

“Okay then, you two were born nine and a half years apart.” Lex said, starting to get a little tired of the loop of age questions.

“Why weren’t we born closer together?” Ebony asked.

“You just weren’t. It wasn’t something I had a say in.” She said, hoping that would be a satisfactory answer.

“Why?”

“What are you two interrogating mum about?” Ethan asked, coming over to them, bringing Olivia with him.

“Mama.” Olivia said, holding out one of her presents for her to see.

“Wow, aren’t you lucky.” She said, smiling at how excited Olivia was about the toy.

“Mummy said you were old.” Ebony said, poking Ethan.

“No, I didn’t, that’s what you said.” She said, tickling Ebony’s sides.

She giggles, brushing away Lex’s hands.

“I’m not old.” He says. He picks up Olivia holding her out in front of him. “You don’t think I’m old, do you?”

“Dada.” She says giggling, reaching to grab onto his hair.

“Yeah, you know I’m not old.” He kisses her forehead before placing her back down in his lap.

She stands up on his legs so that she had easy access to his hair. 

“You don’t care what’s going on, do you? You just wanna play with my hair.” He says giving her a sideways look.

“Livi’s funny.” Ebony said.

“You used to play with my hair all the time.” He pointed out.

“No, I didn’t.” She shakes her head.

“Yes, you did.” Lex said kissing the top of her head.

Ebony then gets out of Lex’s lap and goes over to Ethan and starts playing with his hair as well. 

Hannah then goes over and joins in on the fun, not wanting to be left out.

“Well, I guess this is happening now.” He says, accepting the girls just wanting to play with his hair.

After a few moments Olivia doesn’t want to be squashed up with everyone and takes a few tentative steps from Ethan’s lap over to Lex, where she promptly falls face-first into her.

Lex catches her. “Good walking, birthday girl.” She says, kissing the top of her head.


	30. Chapter 80

As Hannah was now in high school, the end of the school year special treat wasn’t going to the water park like she had done previously. Instead her grade was going on a camping trip over three days. While still being nervous about the trip, Hannah was mostly excited. She was hoping it was going to be just like the camping trips in her adventure books.

Lex was a lot more worried about the trip, though she was careful not to let Hannah know. Hannah would be gone for two nights, staying in an unfamiliar place. The only time she’d spent the night away from Lex had been when Olivia was born, and she had been staying with Sandra and Cody. Two people she knew in a place she’d been to several times before. 

Lex wasn’t sure how Hannah would handle being so far away for such an extended amount of time. She was worried about what would happen if Hannah had a panic attack or a meltdown or even just got frustrated. Cody would be there and would be able to help to a certain extent, but he couldn’t help her the same way that Lex and Ethan could.

Even though she hadn’t done it in over a year, Lex was worried about Hannah running away, or just wandering off on an adventure. There were going to be a lot of kids on that camp, and she could easily be lost in the crowd and disappear off somewhere. 

There was just so many things that could go wrong and they were all Lex could think about. She didn’t want to stop Hannah from going if that was what she wanted to do though. She wanted her to be able to have that normal school camping trip experience, it just worried her.

When the day of the trip arrived, she was rather reluctant to let Hannah go.

“Mum, you can let go now.” Hannah said after being hugged for a fairly decent amount of time. She didn’t mind being hugged, but she was excited to get going and the bus taking her and her classmates to their campground would be leaving soon.

“I’m gonna miss you.” Lex said, kissing the top of her head. She gives Hannah one more squeeze before letting go. “Be good, okay? No running off or anything. Make sure you listen to your teachers.” She said.

“I will.” She said slightly exasperated. Lex had been saying this to her all week. 

“And you’re sure you’ve got everything you need?”

“Yes. I’ll be fine, mum.” She says before moving over to give Ethan a hug. “Bye dad.”

“See you, Split.” He too kisses the top of her head. “Have fun.”

She grins, before giving Ebony a hug.

“Miss you ‘Nana.” She says. She had never been without Hannah for much longer than a school day. She was most definitely going to feel lonely going to sleep all on her own.

“Miss you too.” She said. She gives Olivia a quick goodbye hug before giving a wave to her family. “Bye.” She says before happily going off and lining up with her classmates to get on the bus. Once she gets on board, she finds a seat next to Cody and as the bus moves to waves to her family. She was still excited but the prospect of being without them for so long suddenly became rather daunting. She wasn’t going to let on though. This was going to be a fun trip. A great big adventure.

“You excited?” Cody asked her as their families disappear from sight.

“Yep.” She says, smiling. “I packed my animal book so that if we see any I can find them.” Lex hadn’t wanted her to pack the book, but Hannah had insisted it would come in handy.

“Nice. Mum let me bring these for the bus ride.” He pulls out a pack of lolly snakes from his backpack.

“Yay! Your mum’s the best.”

They spend the rest of the two-hour bus ride happily chatting and snacking on lolly snakes. As soon as they made it to the campground they eagerly raced out of the bus, ready for whatever activities awaited them. First, however, they needed to get set up within their cabins.

Though she had been expecting it, Hannah was still disappointed that she didn’t get to share a room with Cody. Instead she was sharing with five girls who all seemed to be best friends and whom hardly spared a glance Hannah’s way. She didn’t mind. It was how people normally treated her at school.

She ended up with the least preferable bunk according to her cabin-mates and was sharing the bunk bed with a girl who did not want to be associated with her at all. Hannah had a feeling that they had drawn straws to see who would have to share with her. She didn’t really care if they didn’t like her. She was polite to them and tried her best to be nice, but if they didn’t like her after that, that was their problem. 

Once their cabins had been sorted out the grade was split up into different activity groups. Hers thankfully included Cody. That first day they would be going rock-climbing before dinner. This had been one of the activities that she had looked forward to the most. She loved climbing and knew that Ethan had been wanting to take her sometime.

They were led to a large rock-climbing wall and talked through all the safety precautions.

Hannah wasn’t a big fan of the helmet and harness, but figured it was a small price to pay if she got to do lots of climbing. She was very excited by the time it got to her turn climbing.

“Know what to do?” The activity leader asked her.

She nods and begins to climb. She finds it rather easy. It surprised her after seeing so many of her classmates struggle with it. It didn’t take her long at all to scale up to the top of the wall. She looked out at the view, enjoying the feeling of being high up. The surrounding woodland was beautiful, and she’d quite happily spend the rest of the trip sitting at the top of the wall admiring it. But she had to make her decent and was soon back on firm ground.

She noticed two of her cabinmates who were also in her activity group whispering to each other, glancing at her every now and then. She could tell it was her they were talking about. She felt slightly smug, knowing that they were impressed with how easily she had done the rock-climbing. Maybe now they would like her.

The rest of the afternoon passed by quickly and Hannah had managed to get another turn climbing before they had to head back to the main campsite for dinner. She sat and ate with Cody, the two of them discussing how much fun they’d had already and about all the things they’d get up to in the days to come.

All too soon they were sent off to their respective beds and ‘lights out’ was called. Hannah lay in her bed, trying to sleep. It was both quiet and loud at the campground. There was no noise of cars or chatter from other people, yet she could hear the ticking and buzzing of various insects, the rustling of trees. It made her nervous. It reminded her of the drive to California, though this time Ethan wasn’t there to scare off anything outside.

She pulled the covers up so only her eyes were exposed. She was scared. Lex and Ethan weren’t there to protect her. But she was a teenager now, she shouldn’t need them to protect her. All the other girls in her cabin had gone to sleep no problem. They weren’t worried about what was outside, so why should she? She was though, she couldn’t help it. She felt like the darkness from outside was creeping in through the door, through the faded curtains.

She’d be okay though. Nothing bad was going to happen. She took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes. 

* * *

She hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep and let out a long yawn as she brushed out her hair that morning. Lex had told her that while on camp she’d need to do her hair all by herself. There wasn’t going to be anyone who could fix her mistakes or redo it for her.

She’d gotten better at doing it herself, though would still struggle at times. 

She started to braid her hair, though found it harder while sitting on the bottom bunk, constantly hitting her head on the bed above. She was growing increasingly frustrated. She wished Lex was there to help her.

Maybe she could find Cody and get him to do her hair. Would he even know how to braid hair though? She doubted he did, so resigned to struggle through on her own.

“Are you okay?” One of the other girls asked. Her name was Sadie and was in Hannah’s activity group.

“No.” She muttered, not looking at her and continuing to try and braid the tangled mess that her hair had become.

“Do you need help with your hair?” She asked, coming a few steps closer.

“Sadie, we’re going to breakfast now, are you coming?” Another girl said. She and the rest of them were all standing by the door wearing expensive and stylish clothes with their perfectly neat hairdos.

“I’ll meet you there.” She says.

“What, you’re going to stay here with the weird girl?” The girl said rather snarkily.

“She needs help.” Sadie said with a shrug.

“Well, don’t expect us to save you a seat.” The girl said turning away, taking her and her friends out of the cabin and over to the dining hall.

“Go with your friends.” Hannah said. She didn’t really know Sadie and wasn’t sure if she wanted help from her.

“I can meet up with them later. Do you want me to do your hair for you?” She sat down next to her, though left a decent gap, unsure of how close to Hannah she could get.

Reluctantly, Hannah nodded. She wasn’t the best at asking for help from people other than Lex or Ethan. She gives Sadie the brush and hair-ties and moves to sit on the ground in front of her.

Sadie begins brushing out the tangles from Hannah’s hair. “Does your mum normally do your hair for you?”

Hannah nods, though regrets it when she feels her hair tug sharply against the brush. “Yeah. She gets me to do it but if I’m not happy with it she redoes it.” She isn’t sure of how good of a job Sadie would be able to do but figured that whatever she did would be better than any attempt Hannah had made that morning.

“That’s nice of her.” She said, starting to braid. “My mum never does my hair.”

“Why?”

Sadie shrugs. “She just isn’t bothered. And since I can do it myself, she doesn’t need to do it.” She soon finishes the braid and flicks them over Hannah’s shoulders. “There you go. Do I do alright?”

Hannah feels the braids and gives her head a shake, testing them out. “Yeah, they’re good.” She decides. They felt different to Lex’s, but she’d be okay with them. “Thanks.” She says standing up.

“That’s okay. Let’s go to breakfast.” She goes over to the door and opens it, waiting for Hannah to join her.

She grabs the ends of the braids and starts stimming with them as they walked across the dewy grass.

“Why do you do that?” Sadie asks, noticing the stimming. She’d seen Hannah do it all the time at school but had never had the opportunity to ask about it.

Hannah shrugs. “Makes me feel good.”

They soon reach the dining hall and Hannah quickly spots Cody sitting at a table waiting for her.

“Bye.” She says to Sadie. “Thanks for my hair.”

“I’ll see you later.” She says, making her way over to her friends.

Hannah quickly goes over to where Cody is, sitting down opposite him.

“Have you seen the activity schedule?” He asks rather excitedly. “We get to do archery after lunch.”


	31. Chapter 81

Lex flops down in bed next to Ethan with a sigh. She’d just gotten back after a lengthy amount of time trying to get Ebony to go to bed. She had been rather upset about Hannah not being there, and Lex couldn’t blame her. She missed her too.

“How are you going, babe?” Ethan asked, pulling her closer to him.

“I hope she’s doing okay.” She says.

“I’m sure she’s fine. You saw how excited she was.” He says, kissing the side of her head.

“Yeah, but her mind always wanders a lot when she’s going to sleep, and she could easily freak herself out with any noise she hears from outside.” Lex said, thinking back to how jumpy Hannah had been whenever they slept in the car on the way to California.

“She’ll be fine, babe.” He said, trying his best to reassure her. “She’s not so little anymore, she’ll be able to survive a few nights away from home.”

“I know, I just worry about her.” She sighs.

“I worry too, but She’s gonna be okay.” He says, giving her a squeeze. Despite his worries, he knew that this camping trip would be good for Hannah. It would hopefully help her take a few more steps towards independence. She’d be in charge of taking care of herself for a few days. She’d have to know when to brush her teeth and take a shower. She’d have to get herself off to bed without him or Lex tucking her in.

“I miss her.” She said softly after a period of silence. This trip was going to be the longest she’d ever been separated from Hannah, and she was not a fan of it. She didn’t know how she’d ever handle her going away for college or moving out.

“I miss her too.” He replies.

Lex wraps her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder. She was glad that he understood how she was feeling. She didn’t know what she’d do without him.

“The day after tomorrow she’ll be back, and probably won’t stop talking about all the fun she’s had.” He says. He knew that all the camp activities available would be the sort of things that were right up Hannah’s alley. She’d been so excited to try all the different activities.

“Yeah.” She says sleepily, closing her eyes. She is about to drift off when the bedroom door opens and in walk a teary-eyed Ebony, who crawls up onto their bed.

“Mummy.” She says.

“What’s wrong?” Lex asks, feeling like she already knew what was wrong. Regardless she sits up and pulls Ebony towards her.

“I miss ‘Nana.” She sniffles, burying her face into Lex’s chest.

“It’s okay, she’ll be home before you know it.” She lies back a bit, rubbing her back. She’d already had this conversation while putting Ebony to bed in the first place.

“But she’s not home now.” She whines.

“Hey, Ebbi.” Ethan says, getting her attention. “You know, I miss Hannah too, and she probably misses us. But because we love each other, we carry a part of each other in our hearts. And because you love her too, you get a piece as well.” He says poking her chest over where her heart was.

She rubs the spot he poked. “What about mummy and Livi?”

“They have pieces too.”

“Right here.” Lex says, tapping over her own heart for Ebony to see.

Ebony presses her ear over the spot. “I hear her.” She says happily, pressing harder into Lex.

She kisses the top of her head, smoothing out Ebony’s unruly curls.

Ebony reaches out and takes one of Ethan’s hands, beginning to play with his fingers. Slowly her eyes start to get tired, the lids drooping. Her grip on her parents slackens as she drifts off to sleep.

“It’s sweet how much she misses Hannah.” He said, lovingly watching Ebony sleep.

“Yeah.” Lex agrees, leaning into Ethan’s side. She tilts her head up to give him a lazy kiss.

Lex’s phone then vibrated, announcing the arrival of a text.

“Who’s texting you this late?” He asked. Normally he was the only person to text her.

She shrugs, reaching over to the bedside table and picking up the device and opening the text. She quickly read it, frowning. “Ethan, you should read this.” She passes the phone to him.

He takes it, reading the message for himself.

> Alexandra, I see that you are not with Hannah, don’t worry I’ll keep an eye on her for you.  
> Sincerely, your grandmother, Veronica Foster. 

“There’s no way she can know where Hannah is.” He says after reading the text.

“But she knows that Hannah isn’t here. She knew when Olivia was born. She’s still watching us, Ethan, and we haven’t noticed.” All of her worries about Hannah being away came flooding back. How was she going to be able to protect her when she was so far away.

“She still can’t get to Hannah, babe. There’s no way she’s actually watching her right now.” He too was worried by the message. He knew logically that Veronica couldn’t get to Hannah. She was safe at the camp, surrounded by other students and teachers. Though something that Lex had said earlier that week came back to him. Hannah could easily disappear without anyone noticing.   
Lex had been talking about her running off or going on her own little adventure. But he was thinking about that in terms of Veronica taking her.

“We should get in contact with her teachers, make sure they know about this.” Lex tried to sit up, doing so carefully so as not to disturb Ebony.

“It’s the middle of the night, babe.” He said, taking hold of her arm. “Odds are they’re all gonna be asleep.”

“Which will make things easier for Veronica to take Hannah.” She said.

“Shit, I didn’t think of that.” He sat up then. “She might have already gotten to her.” He said, thinking out loud.

“What if she already has?” Lex asked, looking at him with fear-filled eyes. “We gotta go.” She makes to get out of bed, still holding Ebony, but Ethan stops her.

“Wait.” He says, brow furrowed in thought, slowly coming to a realisation. “We shouldn’t go yet.”

“Why?” She said rather impatiently.

“We don’t know if something has even happened. We should get in contact with her teachers and let them know about Veronica. If we go now and nothing has happened, then odds are we’ll freak Hannah out. I don’t that to happen because then she may never willingly go on school camp again. Camp is good for her and for her learning independence.” He explains. If Hannah finds out that Veronica may be after her then she’ll never want to be without him and Lex for an extended period again. He also didn’t want her to be unnecessarily stressed. “We’ll stay here for now, and if something does happen, then we’ll go.”

“If she does something, we’ll be too far away to help.” Lex said.

“I don’t think she’s going to do anything.”

“You can’t know that.”

“No but think about it. If she was going to do something, why would she tell us she’s watching Hannah?” He says. “I think she’s just trying to scare us.” He wraps his arms around Lex and pulls her closer to him. “I don’t think Hannah’s in any danger from her.”

“We should still tell her teachers, just in case.” She says, allowing herself to lean into him, no longer hell bent on leaving the apartment.

“Absolutely.” He said, kissing the side of her head as he pulled her back, so they were half lying in bed. He hadn’t stopped worrying that something might happen to Hannah, but he knew they needed to think logically about this. He didn’t want to ruin the camp experience for her just because he and Lex were scared something was going to go wrong. They just had to trust that the school and camp staff would be able to keep Hannah safe.

* * *

“When’s ‘Nana gonna come back?” Ebony asked as they waited at the school for Hannah’s bus to bring her back from camp.

“’Nana!” Olivia echoed, happily bouncing in Lex’s arms.

“Soon.” Ethan said.

“How soon?” She asked, starting to climb up him.

“Pretty soon.” He said. Honestly, he had no idea how much longer Hannah would be. They had been told 5:00 but knowing from his own school camp trips that it was highly unlikely she’d be back on time.

“Wanna see ‘Nana.”

“You’ll see her soon, you just gotta be patient.” He said, picking her up from where she was hanging off of his waist and sitting her on his shoulders. “Maybe you’ll be able to spot her from up there.”

She looks intently in all directions. “Still can’t see her, daddy.” She says, flopping over the top of his head.

“You’ll just have to wait a bit longer.” He said. He looks over to Lex, who he can tell is rather anxious to see Hannah again and make sure she’s okay. He wanted to make sure as well, but there was nothing they could do but wait.

They’d gotten in contact with the teachers that were on the camp with her and they’d kept a close eye on her and had checked on her during the night. According to them nothing out of the ordinary had happened and none of them had seen anyone matching Veronica’s description. Lex and Ethan had made sure that the teachers didn’t tell Hannah about any of this. They didn’t want to scare her or stress her out.

“’Nana!” Ebony shouted, having spotted a bus rolling down the street. “It’s ‘Nana!” She starts waving frantically at the bus.

“Hang on, it might not be her bus.” He said as Ebony tried to jump down and go straight over to the vehicle.

“Wait and see if she gets off before you go running, okay?” Lex said, patting Ebony’s knee.

She grumbles, slouching in her seat on Ethan’s shoulders.

As it happened it was Hannah’s bus. Ebony jumped down from Ethan’s shoulders, face planting on the ground before picking herself up and running through the crowd of parents and students, making her way over to Hannah.

“’Nana!” She yelled as she got closer.

Ethan was following her, trying to make sure she didn’t get lost or trampled on in the mass of people much taller than her.

Ebony soon finds Hannah and tackles her with a big hug. “Missed you ‘Nana.” She says.

“I missed you too.” Hannah says hugging back. She had loved camp but was definitely glad to be back. She then spots Ethan and leaves Ebony to give him a big hug. “Missed you, dad.” She says.

“And we missed you.” He hugs her back, kissing the top of her head. “Come on, let’s grab you stuff and go find mum and Livi.” He says. He was definitely relieved to see that she was fine. From just looking at her he could tell she’d had a lot of fun over the past few days.

She nods and they quickly go and find her bag from amongst all the suitcases that her classmates had packed for camp. With Ethan carrying the bag they made their way back over to Lex and Olivia.

Lex put Olivia down so that she could give Hannah the tightest hug she good. “You okay, Banana? Did you have a good time?” She asks.

Hannah nods, hugging her back just as tightly. “Really missed you though.” She says, her words slightly muffled against Lex’s shoulder.

“I really missed you too.” She said, giving Hannah one last squeeze before letting her go. She was most certainly glad that nothing bad had happened to her. She was glad that her days of worry had all been for nothing. Hannah was back and she was okay. She was smiling and was starting to tell them about all the fun things she’d gotten up to on camp. 

Ethan came over to Lex, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her cheek. Everything was okay now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've got my dance concert coming up, so I've got all sorts of rehearsals all the time, so who knows how often I'll get stuff up.


	32. Chapter 82

After a morning filled with nagging, Lex finally relented and took the girls to the park. It was the first time she’d taken them for a bike ride without Ethan. He was their go to when it came to bike riding, seeing as he knew how to do it and she didn’t. 

But the girls had gotten sick of being cooped up indoors all day, so annoyed Lex into taking them to the park. Lex had made it clear that they needed to stay within sight of the playground, where she’d be with Olivia, and Hannah had to keep an eye on Ebony and go at her pace. She didn’t want the two of them getting separated.

“Can we go now?” Hannah asked, getting rather impatient with all of Lex’s instructions and precautions. 

“Yes, you can go.” Lex said.

“You know you don’t have to give all the instructions.” She said, hopping onto her bike. “We’ve gone riding before.”

“I know, but I just want to make sure that you’re safe.” She said, helping Ebony with the buckle on her helmet.

“We are safe. We’re in California now.” Hannah said matter-of-factly. She then changed her tone to speak quieter. “Hatchetfield mum isn’t here.”

“I know, Banana. She’s not what I’m worried about.”

“What are you worried about?” She asks. She couldn’t think of any reason for Lex to be worried. They were at the park in the middle of the afternoon.

“I’m just always a little bit worried about you. I always want to make sure that you’re safe, and the same goes for Ebony and Olivia.” She explained.

“Why?”

“It’s hard to explain. You’ll understand when you have your own kids one day.” She says. “Now, go and enjoy your ride.” She gives both girls a wave as they start pedalling off. She knew there was no way for Hannah to properly understand a mother’s love for her children until she had some of her own. Lex couldn’t really explain it.

“Mama.” Olivia said, tugging on her hand, trying to pull her in the direction of the swing set.

She gives Olivia’s hand a small squeeze, walking her over to the swings. She picks her up and places her in the seat, moving around to start pushing.

Olivia kicks her legs happily, giggling as she feels the air rush past her.

Lex smiles at her before moving her gaze to spot the older two girls circumnavigating the playground. Hannah was being responsible and would periodically look over her shoulder to make sure that Ebony wasn’t falling too far behind.

Hannah had gotten more confident when it came to being in charge. She had even started enjoying having a little bit of responsibility. She always had to look out a bit for Ebony while bike riding. 

She’d been on school holidays for a week and already she and Ebony had grown tired of every game in their arsenal. Sometimes they’d try and change things up by incorporating Olivia, but she never quite understood the rules. 

The only thing they hadn’t done during that week was go for a bike ride. Mainly because Ethan had been at work, so he hadn’t been able to take them. But the two of them had worn Lex down with a barrage of nagging and had convinced her to take them to the park.

It was a hot and sunny day, so Lex had made sure all three girls had been lathered in a layer of sunscreen before leaving the apartment. Hannah always hated the stuff but put up with it because she was so desperate to go for a bike ride.

The steadily climbing temperature made riding a little harder and after only a few minutes she and Ebony were rather hot and sweaty. Hannah wasn’t ready to stop though.

“I’m tired, ‘Nana.” Ebony called from where she was trailing Hannah on her bike.

“But we only just started!” She said, glancing over her shoulder at a rather red-faced Ebony.

“It’s too hot” She said, stopping in pedalling and sitting on her bike in the middle of the path.

Hannah doesn’t notice that she’s stopped and keeps riding. “It’s fun though.” She says.

“’Nana, mummy says we need to stick together!” She yelled at her retreating back.

“I’m gonna keep going. You can come if you want or go back to mum.” Hannah yelled back, riding out of earshot.

Ebony continued to sit there with her arms crossed. She wanted to spend time with Hannah, but she’d had enough of bike riding. She didn’t like how hot it was making her. She and Hannah were meant to stick together, but now she’d been abandoned.

She looks over in the direction of the playground where Lex was pushing Olivia on the swings. She stands up, abandoning her bike and runs over to them, wrapping her arms around Lex in a hug.

“Hey, have you been having fun?” Lex asks, giving Olivia another push before turning to face Ebony. She quickly notices the tears. “What’s wrong? Where’s Hannah?”

Ebony sniffles a few times before speaking. “Wanted to stop, but ‘Nana kept going.” She began, her words jumped with crying. “Said I could come or go here. Then she kept going without me.”

“It’s okay.” She said, wiping away the tears that ran down Ebony’s cheeks. “I’m sure Hannah thought you were right behind her.”

“No. She saw me stopped.”

“Mama.” Olivia called from where she still was sitting in her swing seat. She’d noticed that she was no longer getting pushed and had lost a great deal of momentum. She randomly kicked her legs trying to get going again.

Lex picks Ebony up, sitting her on her hip and holding her with one arm so that she could keep pushing Olivia with the other. She didn’t want to end up with two upset kids. 

“I said we were meant to stay together, mummy.” Ebony said, gripping onto Lex’s shirt while she continued to cry. “But she left me behind.”

“I’m sure she didn’t mean to.” Lex said, kissing the top of Ebony’s head. She then spots Hannah coming out of a section of path obscured from the playground by trees. “Hannah!” She calls over to her.

She looks around, soon spotting Lex who beckons her over. With a sigh, she gets off her bike and walks it over to the swing set. “What?” She asks, when she gets close enough.

“Ebbi said you left her behind when she wanted to stop.” She said.

“So, she could go to you if she wanted.” Hannah explained. “She could’ve come with me if she wanted, but she didn’t.” She shrugs.

“You still shouldn’t have left her.” 

“But she could see you, so it’s not like she could’ve gotten lost.”

“She’s four, Hannah, you can’t just leave her on her own like that.”

“Mama, stop.” Olivia said, no longer wanting to swing.

Lex brings the swing to a stop before continuing to talk to Hannah. “Can you apologise to her please?”

“Sorry, Ebbi.” She said half-heatedly. She didn’t think she’d done anything wrong. Sure, they were told to stick together, but if Ebony didn’t follow her, how was that her fault?

“Gotta mean it.” Ebony said, pointing at her.

“I said I was sorry.” Hannah replied. “Can I keep riding now?” She asked Lex.

“Just a sec.” She turns her attention to Ebony. “Do you wanna do more riding or have you had enough?”

Ebony’s response was to hang on tighter to Lex.

“Okay, you can go, Banana.” She said.

Hannah happily goes back over to the path and continues her ride.

Lex puts Ebony down so that she could take Olivia out of the swing seat. “Let’s go get your bike.” She says. “Where did you leave it?”

She points in the vague direction that she had come from, hugging close to Lex.

She takes hold of Ebony’s hand and together they walk over to the section of path where the bike lay abandoned.

* * *

“Dada!” Olivia said, being the first to spot him as he got home. She toddles over to him, hugging his leg.

He picks her up. “Hey kiddo.” He says, kissing her forehead.

She giggles, wrapping her arms around his neck. She tries to kiss his forehead in return, but just ends up licking him.

“Thanks, Livi.” He says, giving her a squeeze.

“Daddy!” Ebony yelled, barrelling towards him holding a piece of paper.

He scoops her up in his other arm.

“I drew you a picture!” She says, shoving the piece of paper into his face.

He couldn’t figure out what the series of blue and purple scribbles were meant to represent but smiled at her anyway. “That’s really good, Ebbi, thank you.” He kisses her cheek. Even though he had no idea what the picture was of, he still loved it because his kid drew it.

“It’s us.” She says. “You’re blue, I’m purple.” 

He smiles and nods. He guessed the scribbles could be considered vaguely humanoid.

Olivia grabbed the picture, wanting to hold it.

“Let go, Livi.” Ebony said. “It’s for daddy.” She tugs the paper back from Olivia’s grasp, causing it to tear. “No!” She cried, her eyes welling up with tears. “Livi, you ruined it!” The torn part wasn’t through the picture itself, but rather where she’d written her name ‘Edony’.

Olivia starts crying as well, not quite understanding why Ebony was mad at her.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Ethan said, moving over to the couch and sitting down, one girl on each knee. “Don’t cry, we can fix it.”

“She broke it, daddy.” Ebony held up the drawing so he could see the tear.

“Livi didn’t mean to. And don’t forget that you pulled it away from her really hard.” He said, still trying to get the two girls to calm down.

“What’s wrong?” Hannah asked, flopping over the back of the couch.

“Ebbi’s picture got torn. Do you mind hunting down some sticky tape for me please?” He said.

She pushes herself off of the couch. “Mum, where’s the sticky tape?” She said, calling rather loudly over to Lex.

“There should be some in the stationary drawer.” She replies.

Hannah soon returns with the tap and hands it to Ethan.

“Thanks, Banana.” He says, taking it from her. He takes the picture from Ebony, who, along with Olivia, had managed to stop crying. He tapes the tears back together. “See, Ebbi, it’s all fixed.” He says, showing her the paper and giving her a quick squeeze.

“All better?” She asks, carefully taking the picture from him.

“Yep, it’s all better.” He says, kissing the top of her head.

“Thanks, daddy.” She says, snuggling into him, still clutching her drawing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I started writing a chapter and got halfway through it before realising it would work a lot better later on, so I started again then didn't have an opportunity to write for a few days.


	33. Chapter 83

In the past week Hannah had received her book list for the following school year. So, they were spending their Saturday school shopping. There wasn’t a ton of stuff that they needed to get Hannah, but there was a reasonable amount of thing that needed to be gotten for Ebony, who was going to be starting preschool.

Ethan pushed Olivia along the different aisles in the trolley with one hand, while Ebony skipped along next to him holding the other. Lex and Hannah walked ahead of them, grabbing various items and adding them to the trolley before ticking them off of their list.

“You excited to go to school?” He asked Ebony as they walked along.

She nodded eagerly. “Yeah! Gonna get to go to school like ‘Nana!” She had first thought she’d be going to school with Hannah. Lex and Ethan had to explain to her that she was going to be in a different building and wouldn’t see Hannah. She hadn’t liked that at all but had quickly come around to the idea of going to school like Hannah, even if it wasn’t with her.

Ethan smiled down at her. He couldn’t ever remember being excited to go to school but he was glad that Ebony was. He hoped she’d keep that excitement as she got older. He hoped that she’d have a good school experience. He himself hadn’t had the best time at school. Of course, there’d been Lex, she was probably the main reason that he showed up. He never got the best grades and didn’t ever care enough about them to study.

“Ebbi, what backpack do you want?” Lex asked holding up three different child-sized backpacks for her to choose from.

Ebony let go of his hand and went over to Lex. She studied each backpack before taking hold of a purple one, hugging it to her chest. “This one.” She says. 

“Okay, go put it in the trolley.” She says.

Ebony stands on tiptoes and pushes the backpack into the trolley before going back to holding Ethan’s hand. “I like purple.” She says.

“I know you do.” He gives her hand a squeeze.

“Cause it’s my colour.” She says, bouncing along as they continued shopping.

They grab a few things for Hannah before Lex calls Ebony over to her.

“Ebbi, come and choose what lunchbox you want.” She says.

“Can I get a new one?” Hannah asks as Ebony comes over.

“What’s wrong with the one you’ve already got?” Lex asks her.

“It’s boring.” She says.

“It’s boring? It’s a lunchbox, Banana, they’re meant to be practical, not exciting.”

“But all the other kids at school have really cool lunchboxes, and then mine’s boring.” She explained.

“Well, if you though it was boring, then why did you choose it?” Lex asked.

“Because it wasn’t boring when I was eight.” Hannah retorted. “I’m almost fourteen. I should be allowed a new one and Ebbi can use my old one if it’s spending money that you’re worried about.”

Lex sighs. “Hannah, you don’t need a new one. The one you’ve got is perfectly fine.”

“They’re $10, mum. It won’t hurt if I get one too.” She says. She wasn’t about to let this go. She wanted a new lunchbox so maybe people would think she was cool, or at least worth talking to. Sure, she had Cody, but he wasn’t in all of her classes and she needed someone for those times. He’d managed to make a few friends in his other classes. Maybe a new lunchbox would help her out.

“You’re already getting a new pencil case you don’t need a lunchbox as well.”

“That’s not fair! I need a pencil case because my other one broke!” She turns to Ethan. “It’s not fair, dad.” She says, going over to him.

He wraps an arm around her. “Why do you want a new lunchbox anyway?” He asks.

“Cause if I get a cool one then people might think I’m cool and come and talk to me.” She mutters.

“Well, I know from when I was at school, that what lunchbox you have doesn’t really matter. They’re not what’s used to determine if you’re cool or not.” He says, giving her a squeeze.

“What do you know? You never finished school.”

“I might not have finished, but I did start it, and I know what it’s like.” He kisses the side of her head. “If you want people to think you’re cool, then you’ve gotta show them that you are.”

“Yeah, like with a new lunchbox.” She said.

“No, I mean use your personality. You gotta talk to people if you want them to talk to you.” He explains.

“I don’t wanna talk to people.” She mumbles, turning into him.

“Then why do you want them to talk to you?”

“So that I’m not as lonely.” 

He pulls her into a proper hug. He felt awful with the knowledge that Hannah was feeling lonely at school. He knew she’d had a harder time of it with not having Cody in all her classes. He had never realised to what extent she had felt lonely. He didn’t want her feeling this way, and if a lunchbox could help fix that then he’d get her a million.

He looks over to Lex. He knew she was having the same feelings he was.

“Okay.” She said. “You can have a new lunchbox, Banana.”

Hannah looks up from where she is pressed against Ethan. She rubs her eyes with one hand, the other going to grab her braid, shaking it. She walks over to Lex, leaning against her as she browsed the various lunchboxes.

“That one.” She says, pointing at a black box decorated with bright yellow sunflowers.

Lex takes it off of the shelf and hands it to her. “Go put it in the trolley then.” She says before turning to Ebony. “Which do you want?”

“That one.” She says, pointing at a box identical to Hannah’s, though it was purple instead of black.

“Okay, there you go then.” She grabs to box, giving it to her to put in the trolley.

“It matches ‘Nana’s, daddy.” She says as she puts down her box, going back to holding his hand.

“It sure does.”

“But mine’s purple.” She says.

“Because that’s your colour.” He smiles down at her, giving her hand a squeeze.

“Uh-huh.” She nods, happily skipping along.

* * *

“You know, I’ve been thinking.” Ethan said that night as he and Lex climbed into bed. “We should start giving Hannah an allowance. That way she can buy herself whatever she wants.” 

“I’ve thought about that as well.” She said, shuffling closer to him. Hannah was always asking if she could have all these different things. For the most part, any other kid her age would have money to buy whatever toys they wanted. “I don’t think she properly understands the value of money. An allowance could help her learn that.”

“My thoughts exactly.” He agreed. “And she’d be able to buy things for herself without having to nag us.”

“How much do you think we should give her?” Lex asked, turning on her side and propping her head up on her elbow so she can see him properly.

He shrugs, moving to mirror her position. “I dunno, you’re the budget wiz. But we should get her to do chores to earn it. So maybe we could pay her in accordance to how much she does, or do you think a flat weekly rate would work better?”

“It would depend how much we paid her. But I think a standard amount every week would be good. So long as she does say a list of chores within that week, she’ll earn the money.”

He nods, rolling onto his back. “How much are you thinking of giving her?”

“I think $10. It’s enough that she wouldn’t just roll her eyes at, and it won’t make us go broke handing it out every week.”

“Okay, so we’ll tell her tomorrow?”

Lex nods. “I’ll come up with a list of jobs for her to do.” She says, laying on her back. Hannah already did the occasional chore, though the when was fairly random. She was in charge of cleaning her room and would sometimes be roped into doing the dishes. Other than that, there wasn’t really any jobs she did around the apartment. Lex had wanted her to get to enjoy being a kid for as long as possible, but she was getting older and needed to learn more responsibilities.

Ethan snakes an arm around Lex, pulling her flush against him.

She smiled, kissing his cheek before resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes.

They stay in silence for several moments, both thinking their own train of thoughts. Ethan breaks it, letting out a sigh. “Ebbi’s starting preschool.” He says.

“She is.” Lex nods, eyes still closed.

“But she’s just a baby.”

“She’s growing up, babe.” She opens her eyes and turns her head to face him.

“Where’d the time go? It feels like it was only yesterday that she was born. Now she’s all grown up going to preschool and pretty soon Liv will be going as well and then Hannah will graduate. What’ll we do then?” He says looking at her.

She raises a hand to his cheek. “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. But until then, we get to make the most of our time with them while they’re still little. We’ve got plenty of years before they’re all grown up and moving out.”

“We’ve only got about five years before Hannah’s off to college.” He points out.

“She might not want to go to college.”

“True.” He says. “Our little girls are growing up, Lex.”

“They are.” She says, nodding. She couldn’t say she was overly happy about the prospect of them growing up. She’d much rather them stay small forever. She liked that they needed her help for things.

“We’re getting old.”

She scoffs. “Speak for yourself.”

He kisses the top of her head. “You’re not immune to the passage of time, babe.”

“You really think it’s in your best interest to call me old?” She says, giving him a look.

“I’m not calling you old, I’m just saying that we’re getting old.” He says in an effort to defend himself.

“That’s the same thing.”

“No, it’s not. And you can’t deny that we’re aging. You said yourself that the girls were getting older. So are we.” He gives her a quick kiss on the lips before she has a chance to say anything else.

She rolls her eyes at him, though smiles and kisses him in return. “You’re lucky I like you.”

“You only like me?” He dramatically holds a hand to his heart, feigning insult.

She rolls her eyes once more. “Fine, I love you. Happy now?”

He grins. “Very.” He kisses her again, this one deeper and lasting longer.

She happily kisses back, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

His hands go to her waist, pulling her flush against him. “I love you too.” He whispered, breaking away from the kiss and resting his forehead against hers.

“It would be a tad awkward if you didn’t” She says, pecking his lips with another quick kiss.

He laughs before kissing her once more.


	34. Chapter 84

She was awoken by Ethan pressing a soft kiss to her lips. “Morning.” She said sleepily, keeping her eyes closed.

“Morning, babe.” He said. “Happy birthday.” He kisses her once more. “Me and the girls made something for you.”

“Oh yeah?” She says, sitting up against the pillows.

“Yep.” He grins, kissing her for a third time. “I’ll go get them.” He walks over to the bedroom door, opening it to reveal the three girls standing there.

“Happy birthday, mummy!” Ebony said, rushing into the room, climbing onto the bed and seating herself on top of Lex’s legs. “I made you a picture.” She waves a piece of paper covered in her signature scribbles in her face.

Lex takes it. “Wow, that’s really good, Ebbi. Thank you.” She gives her a hug as Hannah enters the room and places a tray covered in breakfast food on the bedside table. “Did you make that, Banana?” She asks, pulling Hannah in to join the hug.

She nods. “I did most of it, though I let dad help.”

“I think you’ve got it the other way round, Split.” Ethan says, sitting down on the bed beside them and pulling Olivia up onto his lap.

She gets to her feet on the bed and wobbles a few steps before falling on top of Lex and Ebony. “Uh-oh.” She says.

“Don’t worry, Livi.” Ebony said, pulling up Olivia. “Everyone falls over.”

“Are you gonna have breakfast now?” Hannah asked Lex, picking a plate up off of the tray and passing it to her.

“Hang on a sec, Banana.” She said, shifting Ebony and Olivia off of her so that there was less likelihood of them causing something to spill onto the bed. “Okay, I’m ready now.”

Hannah passes her a plate with several pancakes sitting on it, before handing over some cutlery.

“Smells delicious.” Lex said, smiling over at her. She cut off a piece and popped it into her mouth. “It’s really good.” She says after swallowing.

“Can I have some, mummy?” Ebony asked, pressing up against her.

Ethan pulled her back. “You already ate your share.” He says.

“Please.” She begs, wriggling away from him and going back over to Lex.

“Alright.” She relents, cutting off a small portion and feeding it to Ebony.

“If Ebbi gets some I want some.” Hannah said. “I did make them after all.”

Lex sighs though is smiling. She wasn’t surprised at all that the girls wanted to share in her breakfast. “Here you go.” She gives Hannah her own piece of pancake.

“Thank you.” She says with her mouth full.

“Mama please.” Olivia said tapping her mouth, wanting some as well.

Lex gives her some.

“Okay, you three have had enough.” Ethan says. “You gotta let mum have some of her breakfast.” He grabs Ebony and Olivia over onto his lap, holding them there.

“It’s okay, Ethan. There’s so much I probably won’t be able to finish it all anyway.” She says, taking another bite.

“You at least gotta have a chance to eat it.” He says with a shrug.

Ebony starts climbing up onto his shoulders, Olivia trying to copy her.

“Do you like it?” Hannah asks, resting her head against Lex’s shoulder.

“Yes.” She wraps an arm around Hannah and kisses the top of her head.

* * *

It was Ebony’s first day of preschool.

Hannah had gone back to school the week prior, and Ebony was most definitely ready to join the world of education.

She’d been bouncing up and down all morning, only being still long enough for Lex to give her ‘’Nana hair’.

“Are you excited?” Hannah asked her. 

“Uh-huh.” She nodded eagerly. She couldn’t wait to go to her class and meet all the people there. She’d heard Hannah talk about adventures a million times, and she was certainly ready to have one of her own.

“Hey, Ebbi, come and put this in you backpack.” Ethan said, holding out her lunchbox, which he’d just filled.

She runs over and takes it from him, shoving it into her bag and doing up the zip. “Ready to go now.” She announced, pulling the backpack onto her shoulders. It seemed absolutely massive compared to her.

“You still gotta put shoes on.” He said, noticing her bare feet.

She gasps and runs into her room, the backpack slightly hampering her speed. She grabs her favourite shoes and runs back out to the living room where Ethan was waiting for her. She hands him the shoes and sits down.

He crouches down in front of her and helps her put on the shoes.

Once they’re on her feet, she stands back up. “Go now.” She says and walks straight over to the door.

“Aren’t you gonna say goodbye to mum first?” He asked, standing up beside her.

“Oops.” She runs into Olivia’s room where Lex is trying to get the one-year-old to stop having a tantrum. “Bye mummy.” She says hugging her from behind, ignoring the crying.

Lex turns around, holding Olivia in one arm. She hugs Ebony with the other and kisses the top of her head. “Bye, Ebbi. I’m gonna miss you today. Make sure you have lots of fun, okay?”

“I will.” She gives Lex one more hug before waving at Olivia. “Bye, Livi.” She says before running back out to Ethan. “Go now?”

“Yeah, I think we can go now.” He says. “You got everything, Split.”

Hannah nods, swinging her own backpack over her shoulders.

“Alright, let’s head.” He grabs the car keys and opens up the front door, leading the two girls to the car.

Ebony bounced in her seat all the way to the preschool. She was being dropped off before Hannah and when they arrived all three got out of the car. Ethan took hold of Ebony’s hand and walked her into the building and locating her classroom.

“Have fun today, Ebbi.” He said crouching down and giving her a hug.

She hugs back, not saying anything. She had suddenly become scared of being on her own for the whole day.

“Do you want me to walk you inside?” He asked, noticing her reluctance to leave him.

Hannah patted Ebony’s back, trying to bring her some comfort.

After a few moments, Ebony nods.

“Okay, then.” Ethan got back up to his feet, taking hold of her hand once more.

Hannah moved to Ebony’s other side, taking her free hand.

The two of them walked her into the room, which was slowly filling with other four-year-old’s. The teacher smiled at them and gestured for Ebony to take a seat on the floor. Ethan found her a spot and guided her into sitting while Hannah puts her backpack in one of the cubbies that lined one wall.

He kisses the side of Ebony’s head. “You’re gonna have so much fun today. I’ve gotta go now, but I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

She gives him one last hug. “Bye daddy. Miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too.” He gives her a quick squeeze before standing up.

“Bye.” Hannah said. “See you later.” She waves.

“Bye.” Ebony waves to them as they make their way from the classroom.

* * *

Apart from Olivia’s tantrum early that morning, the day had been relatively quiet for Lex. It seemed strange; she hadn’t realised how much noise Ebony had made until she wasn’t there making it anymore. Olivia wasn’t necessarily a quiet kid, but she currently made less noise than her sister. 

“It’s just us two today.” She said once Olivia had calmed down.

All day Lex kept checking her phone for the time. She was keen to see Ebony again and make sure that she’d had a good day. It was tough that her first day was a full day. Her preschool schedule was a fully day on Mondays and half days on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Lex hoped that she’d been able to make a friend. Ebony was a social kid, but she could be rather shy sometimes. Lex kept her fingers crossed that she’d been able to have someone to play with.

She had left to pick her up earlier than she needed to, but Lex just didn’t want to sit around waiting any longer. She put Olivia in the stroller and walked over to the preschool. She was going to pick up Ebony and then they’d walk to the high school to get Hannah.

After waiting for what felt like ages, Ebony came out of her classroom, backpack on her back and a wide smile on her face. She ran straight over to Lex and gave her a big hug.

Lex hugged back, picking her up and sitting her on her hip. “Did you have a good day?” She asks.

“Uh-huh.” She nods, wrapping her arms around Lex’s neck and resting her head on her shoulder. “Missed you though.”

“I missed you too.” She said kissing her cheek.

“Eb-Eb.” Olivia said trying to get out of the stroller. “Hi” She waved.

Ebony jumps down from Lex’s arms and goes over to her. “Hi Livi. I missed you too.” She said unbuckling Olivia from the stroller and picking her up in a big hug.

“Missy you.” She said.

“Let’s get ‘Nana now.” Ebony said, putting Olivia down, holding her hand with one of hers and Lex’s with the other.

They made their way over to Hannah’s school where she was standing at the gates waiting for them. She walks over as soon as she spots them. 

She bends down and picks up Ebony. “How was school?” She asks, rather curious as to how Ebony found the whole school experience so far, even if it was only her first day of preschool.

“Good.” She says happily.

“That’s good.”

“How was your day, Banana?” Lex asks as they start the walk back to the apartment.

She shrugs. “Alright, I guess.”

“Did you do anything interesting?”

“Not really.” She says, shrugging once more. She still wasn’t too big on high school. All her classes were a lot harder than they had been back in elementary school.

“’Nana, I gotta draw a picture today.” Ebony said excitedly.

“You always draw pictures.” Hannah said.

“But I did this one at preschool. So, it’s special.” She said, happily skipping along. “I’ll show you at home.”

“Okay.”

Ebony then turns her attention over to Lex. “Mummy, I’m hungry.”

“Well, good thing there’s an afternoon snack waiting for you back home.” She said as they rounded the bend onto their street.

“Yay!” She let go of Hannah’s hand to run ahead.

“Not so fast, Ebbi.” Lex called after her. 

Reluctantly, she slowed down to keep pace with the rest of them. It was nice when they entered their building, the air-conditioning a nice change from the heat of outside. Ebony ran straight over to the elevator pressing the button to summon it.

The four of them ride up to their floor before leaving the lift and walking down the corridor and into their apartment. Once Lex had opened the door, Ebony pushed her way inside, dumping her backpack in the middle of the living room floor before running into the kitchen in search for her snack.

“Put your bag away please.” Lex called out to her as she started packing away the stroller.

“Where’s it go?” she said, meandering back into the living room. 

“Hannah will show you what to do while I get you your snack.” She says.

“Why do I have to?” Hannah complains.

“Because you’ll be unpacking your bag, so you might as well tell Ebbi what to do while you’re doing it.” Lex explains, leaving the girls to go into the kitchen.

Ebony opens up her backpack, copying Hannah as she does the same. She immediately spots the picture she had drawn during the day. It had got a little crumpled, but she knew Lex could iron it out for her.

“It’s my picture.” She said holding it out to show Hannah.

She smiles. “Nice job, Ebbi, I think that’s your best yet.”


	35. Chapter 85

They had properly settled into the new school routine, and Ebony absolutely loved going to preschool. She had managed to make a few friends and spoke about what they got up to endlessly. Lex and Ethan were certainly glad that she was having a good time, though hearing the same things over and over again had become rather tedious.

Olivia didn’t seem to be having as great of a time. She was always trying to go off to school with Hannah and Ebony, not wanting to be left out. As a result of being stopped each time she almost always had tantrums on days that Ebony was at preschool. As soon as she saw her sister getting ready, she’d start crying and wouldn’t let go of Ethan, who she knew took the older girls to school. They’d had to start getting ready especially early on these days in anticipation of Olivia’s tantrum.

“You can go when you’re bigger, Livi.” Ebony said, attempting to pull her little sister off of Ethan so she could get to school. They were going to be making things out of clay that day and she didn’t want to be late.

Olivia only cried louder, kicking Ebony off of her.

“Don’t worry about her.” Ethan said. “You go keep getting ready, okay?”

Ebony nodded and ran off to go get her shoes.

He kissed the side of Olivia’s head, rocking her side to side as he wiped away the tears that rolled down her cheeks. “You don’t need to cry.” He said softly. “We’ll come back. You’re not missing out on anything.”

“I go.” She sniffled.

“I know you want to come, but you’ve gotta stay here. You need to stay here and look after mum for me, do you think you can do that?” He asked.

She rubbed her eyes, blinking at him. Being given a task seemed to have piqued her interest.

He smiled at her. “It’s a very important job, and no one else can do it. Can I trust you to do it?”

She nodded slowly, tears no longer welling up in her eyes.

“Good girl.” He kisses her forehead and gives her one last squeeze before putting her down on the ground. “Go and find mum now, okay?”

She nods again before toddling off in search of Lex. She finds her in the bathroom helping Ebony brush her teeth. “Mama.” She says, attaching herself to Lex’s leg.

“Hi, I see you’ve let go of dad.” She said ruffling Olivia’s hair before quickly finishing with Ebony’s teeth. “Okay, you’re free to go.” She says rubbing Ebony’s shoulders.

“Thanks mummy.” She says before running out of the bathroom.

“I think it’s your turn now, Livi.” She picks Olivia up and sits her on the bench besides the sink, grabbing the appropriate toothbrush. 

Olivia reaches out and grabs the brush from Lex’s hand.

“Are you gonna brush your own teeth?” She asked.

“Mama.”

“Yes?”

Olivia reached her arms out to her.

“I’m not picking you up, you’ve gotta get your teeth cleaned first.” Lex had learnt the hard way that it wasn’t a good idea to hold the girls while brushing their teeth. She’d learnt that lesson with Hannah back in Hatchetfield and she wasn’t about to repeat the experience.

“Mama.” She said again, a little more frustrated. She didn’t want to be carried, she just wanted Lex to come closer. 

“Are you gonna try doing it yourself or do you want me to do it?” She held out her hand for the brush and took a step closer when Olivia didn’t make any attempts at cleaning her teeth.

Now that Lex was closer, Olivia got to her feet, standing on the bench, brush in hand, and starts trying her best to brush Lex’s teeth. She ended up rubbing the back of the brush all over the outside of Lex’s mouth, occasionally hitting her teeth. After doing this for a few seconds she stopped and smiled widely. 

Lex gave her a big cheesy grin. “Are my teeth all clean now?”

Olivia giggled, giving her a hug.

She lifted her up and sat her back down on the bench, kissing the side of her head. “You’re turn now.” She said, taking the toothbrush from Olivia and brushing her teeth.

When she’s about halfway through, Ethan steps into the bathroom. 

“We’re going now, I’ll see you too tonight.” He says.

“Bye, babe, have a good day.” Lex says, turning momentarily away from Olivia to give him a quick kiss.

Realising what was happening, Olivia climbs down from the bench and clings onto Ethan, starting to cry at the prospect of him leaving. She coughs a few times, accidentally inhaling some of the toothpaste foam that’s still in her mouth. To stop herself from chocking she ends up spitting the whole mess onto Ethan’s pants and shoes, causing her to cry more thinking she might be in trouble.

“Hey, Livi, it’s okay.” He says picking her up and rubbing her back.

She continues to cry, dribbling excess foam down her shirt.

Lex takes Olivia from him. “Go get yourself cleaned up.” She says to Ethan, knowing he needed to leave for work. “I’ll make sure she’s okay.”

He nods, looking sympathetically at Olivia. “Hear that, kiddo? Mum’s gonna look after you and make sure you’re okay.” He wiped a few tears away from her cheeks.

She continues to cry and grabs on to him, not wanting him to leave. “Dada.”

She wanted to stay with him and he didn’t want to just walk away when she was so upset, especially when the reason she was crying was him needing to leave. He decides to stay a bit longer and takes her back from Lex’s arms. “I’ll get us cleaned up I think.” He looks and Olivia in his arms who seemed to be calming down. “Could you take the girls to school?” He holds out his car keys.

Lex takes them. “Yeah, sure.” She brushes a few stray curls out of Olivia’s face before giving Ethan a quick kiss and heading out of the bathroom to hunt down the other two girls. She wasn’t the most confident of drivers, but it wasn’t an overly long drive to their schools, and she knew she’d be fine.

“You two ready to go?” She asks when she finds them lounging around in the living room.

“Where’s dad?” Hannah asked. She wasn’t a big fan of changes, particularly last-minute ones. 

“Livi threw up toothpaste all over him, so they’re gonna stay here and get cleaned up while I take you two to school.” Lex explained.

“You can’t drive.” Ebony said going over to her, carrying her backpack.

“I can drive, I just choose not to most of the time.” Lex said. “Now, come one, I don’t want you two to be late.”

While Lex left with the girls, Ethan started to get himself and Olivia cleaned up. He grabs a cloth and wipes off her face before removing her shirt and finding her a clean one to wear.

“Does that help you feel better?” He asked, carrying her out into the living room.

She shrugs and cuddles into him.

He turns down the TV and puts her down on the couch, she immediately protests. “I’ll be right back, okay? I’ve just gotta get changed quickly.” He leaves her there and goes into his room to get changed. He sends a quick text to his boss letting him know that he was going to be late. 

Not two seconds after he put the phone down, he hears Olivia loudly crying in the other room. He hurriedly finishes dressing and goes out to her. “What’s wrong?” He asked scooping up from where she was standing on the couch, looking in his direction.

She continues crying, grabbing tiny fistfuls of his shirt.

He rubs her back. “It’s okay, you don’t need to cry.” He started to wonder how tired she was. She only really cried this much after a bad night’s sleep. Lex had mentioned that she seemed to have been awake for a little while when she went in to wake Olivia up.

After a minute or two she calmed down, letting go of his shirt to rub her eyes, a thumb slipping into her mouth. She rests her head on his shoulder and lets out a yawn, making herself comfortable against him.

“How much sleep did you get, kiddo?” He asked, kissing the top of her head. He sat down with her on the couch, figuring it would be the best place to wait until Lex got back with the car.

She snuggled into him, continuing to suck her thumb as her eyes drifted closed.

He only had to wait fifteen minutes for Lex to come home, having successfully taken Hannah and Ebony to school.

“How’s she going?” Lex asked, coming straight over to him.

“I think she’s fallen asleep.” He said quietly, not wanting to disturb Olivia. If she stayed asleep it would make it a lot easier for him to leave without her crying. 

Lex nods and sits beside him, carefully pulling Olivia into her lap. She hands Ethan the car keys. “You better get going, I’ll see you tonight.”

He nods, giving her a quick kiss then pressing one to the top of Olivia’s head. He gets off the couch and quietly makes his way out of the apartment.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Olivia stirred from where she was in Lex’s arms, her eyes flickering open. She was slightly confused to find herself looking up at her mother when she last remembered being cuddled up with her father.

“Dada?” she asked.

“He’ll be back soon.” Lex said softly, hoping that Olivia didn’t start crying because Ethan wasn’t there. “Do you want to play together while we wait for him?”

She thought for a moment before nodding. She crawled off of Lex’s lap and onto the floor, making her way over to some discarded toys from the night before. She grabs a stuffed giraffe and starts dancing it across the floor. After doing this for a few seconds she looks back over to Lex. “Mama play?”

“Yeah, I can play with you for a bit.” She climbs off the couch and sits on the floor next to Olivia, picking up one of Ebony’s teddy bears, using it to interact with Olivia’s giraffe.

They do this on and off between Lex working for the rest of the day. It seemed to have worked in stopping her from bursting out crying, though she would periodically ask after Ethan. 

“Dada now?” She asked from the stroller as they began the daily walk towards the schools.

“We’re going to get Hannah and Ebony.” Lex explained. “Dad will be home after that.” 

“Dada!” She cried, starting to tear up.

“He’ll be home after we get back.” She started walking a little faster, not wanting Olivia to start screaming out in public, though knew that it was inevitable. They make it to the preschool and collect Ebony from her classroom before the waterworks start.

“Mummy, guess what?” Ebony said excitedly, running over to where Lex was waiting for her. 

“What?”

“I got all ticks!” She exclaimed holding up a piece of paper where her teachers had tested her on naming various colours and shapes.

“Good job, Ebbi.” Lex said, giving her daughter a hug.

She grins before going over to Olivia and showing her the test. “Look at my ticks, Livi.” She said.

Olivia stared at the paper blankly. She wasn’t interested in a piece of paper, she just wanted Ethan to come back. She always missed him lots when he wasn’t there.

Ebony looked up at Lex, confused. “Is Livi mad at me?” She asked, taking the paper out of her face.

“No, she’s not mad, she just misses dad.” She explained, taking hold of one of Ebony’s hands, beginning the short walk to Hannah’s school.

By the time they return home, Hannah and Ebony in tow, Olivia was full on crying once more.

“Dad’s gonna be home real soon, okay?” Lex said, trying to calm her down while sorting out snacks for the older two girls. She kisses the top of Olivia’s head. She knew she had little chance of succeeding in calming her down without Ethan there.

Hannah and Ebony escaped to their room while Olivia continued to cry. Lex kept trying to calm her down while starting to get dinner ready, but her attempts were fruitless.

As soon as Ethan opened the door, Olivia almost instantly stopped crying. She wriggled her way out of Lex’s arms and went straight over to him.

He scoops her up and sits her on his hip. “Hey kiddo, were you good for mum today?”

She hugs him as tightly as she could. “Miss you.” She said.

He kisses the top of her head. “I missed you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I was busy with dance and Christmas and then just didn't have a good idea for what to write for a little while.


	36. Chapter 86

After much deliberation, they had decided that one of Hannah’s Christmas presents be a phone. She was fourteen now and had become more interested in hanging out with Cody then coming home when Lex picked her up from school. Lex and Ethan had discussed it and figured it would be for the best to get Hannah a phone of her own. She had also expressed interest in getting one, often stealing theirs and talking about how everyone else in her year had phones.

They hadn’t gotten her the most modern or expensive phone. Just one that could call, text, and hold a few games. Lex had fiddled with the settings so that Hannah would need them to type in a password if she wanted to use the internet. The internet could be a dangerous place, and they didn’t want her to have free reign of it just yet.

So, on Christmas day, they gave the phone to her, explaining what responsibilities it held. Lex had plugged in some contacts for her and also downloaded some of her favourite games, so it was ready to go.

“Thank you!” She said, excitedly jumping up and down, giving them each hugs.

“What did you get, ‘Nana?” Ebony asked, looking up from her own presents.

“A phone!” She went and showed it to her.

Ebony looked over to Lex and Ethan. “Can I have one?”

“No.” Ethan said. “Not until you’re at least Hannah’s age.”

She pouted and went back to her own gifts. Unwrapping the final one she found it to be a toy phone and was very excited. Lex and Ethan had figured that Ebony would get rather jealous of Hannah having a phone and would want one herself, so they got her a fake one to play with.

“I got a phone too, ‘Nana!” She said eagerly showing it to Hannah.

“Cool.” She replied, not entirely paying attention. She was too focused on fiddling with her real phone. She couldn’t wait to go back to school and show Cody. He had gotten a phone for his birthday so once she got his number, they’d be able to talk to each other all the time. She reckoned that now that she had a phone, she might be able to go out on her own. She knew why she wasn’t normally allowed to go outside anywhere on her own, but she was older now and wanted a chance to be on her own and go where she liked.

There was a knock at the door.

“Who could that be?” Lex asked.

Ethan shrugged while getting to his feet. “Dunno.” He makes his way over to the front door, opening it up as much as the chain would allow. He hadn’t expected to see his parents standing there on the other side. Without giving them a chance to speak he closed the door. It was Christmas and he didn’t want to have to deal with his parents at that moment.

There was another series of knocks. “Open the door, Ethan.” His dad said.

He sighs and reluctantly goes and opens it on the chain once more. “What do you want?” He asks.

“We want to spend the holidays with our son. Christmas is all about spending time with family, is it not?” His dad said.

“I am spending Christmas with my family.” Ethan said gesturing in back in the direction of the living room. 

“And we are your family too, so open the door and let us in.”

“No.” He didn’t want to have to deal with all the bullshit his parents brought with them. And he wasn’t about to let them in after how they had treated Lex last time they had visited.

“Dada.” Olivia said, toddling out of the living room and coming over to him. “Miss you.” She said as he bent down and picked her up.

“Missed you too.” He said, kissing the side of her head.

“Is that Ebony?” His dad asked.

“No, this is Olivia.”

“You’ve had another child?” His dad said, seemingly surprised by this news.

“Yeah. I think you’ll recall Lex being pregnant the last time you were here.” He said. He still wasn’t too keen on talking to his parents, but at least it seemed like his dad had accepted the fact that Ebony and Olivia were his kids.

“Dada.” She said, poking the side of his head.

“Yes?” He turned his attention back towards her.

She tapped a finger to her mouth.

“You’re hungry, are you?”

She nods, lying her head on his shoulder, sticking her thumb in her mouth.

He turns back to his parents. “Well, I should go get her something to eat. Nice seeing you, don’t feel the need to come by again.” He closed the door on them despite their protests and heads over to the kitchen to find Olivia something to snack on.

“Who was at the door?” Lex asked from the living room as he walked past.

“No one important.” He replied. He’d give her details after the girls had all gone to bed. He still wanted to enjoy the rest of the day. He grabbed a bowl of grapes from the fridge and went back to the living room. He puts the bowl and Olivia down on the floor so that the three girls could all share, before going and sitting next to Lex on the couch.

Olivia gets up from the floor and goes over to Lex holding out a grape. “Grape.” She says.

“Yeah, you’ve got a grape.” She smiles, running a hand over Olivia’s hair.

“Mama.” She says, continuing to hold out the grape.

“Is it for me?”

Olivia nods, handing over the grape.

“Thank you.” Lex says, popping the fruit in her mouth and eating it. “Delicious.”

Olivia smiled and jumped up and down a few times, holding onto Lex’s knees for balance. She then turns back around and sits down on the floor, continuing to eat grapes, occasionally offering them to her various family members.

* * *

Ethan had been out half the night at a New Year’s party hosted by his boss and had only just gotten home from the event. He was trying to be quiet but with the dark apartment and the fact that he’d had a few drinks meant he kept running into things. Eventually he made his way into his and Lex’s bedroom and makes a start at changing into his pyjamas.

“How was your party?” She asks.

He jumps. “Jesus, Lex, I thought you were asleep.” 

“Well, you were mistaken.” She found that she had a hard time getting to sleep without Ethan there. It made her glad that he didn’t have a job that required him to be away from home overnight. “So, how was it?”

He shrugs. “It was good.” He finishes getting changed and climbs into bed next to her. An invitation had been extended to Lex, but she hadn’t been feeling well and preferred to stay home with the girls, especially with Hannah’s great dislike of fireworks.

“How much did you drink?” She asks.

“I didn’t have anything.” He wasn’t sure if she’d get him in trouble or not.

“Don’t lie, I heard you running into everything when you came in.” She said with a short laugh.

“I only had like three.” He says reluctantly before deciding to change the subject. “You know, you’re really pretty.”

She laughs properly this time. “I think you may have had more than three drinks.” She says, kissing him on the cheek.

He wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her on top of him. “You’re so pretty, Lex.” He says, smiling up at her. “And our babies look just like you. We should have more so that there’s more you in the world.”

“We’ll have to see about that.” She kisses him on the cheek once more before returning to where she had been laying previously.

“C’mon babe, you know you want more.” He presses several kisses to the side of her face.

“We can talk about it when you’re sober.” She said, giving him a few pats on the cheek. “Right now, I think we should both get some sleep.”

He grumbled a little but relented, finding that he was indeed quite tired. “Night, babe.” He mumbles, burying his face in her hair.

“Goodnight, Ethan.” She remained awake, thinking about what he had said. About having more kids. She didn’t mind the idea. They hadn’t really spoken much about having more. They had sort of agreed that if they didn’t have more, they’d be happy, and if they did, then they’d still be happy. She turned her head to look at Ethan, who was now snoring softly. She smiled in spite of herself. Yeah, she wouldn’t mind having more kids with him.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by a set of fireworks going off. Whoever was setting them off had missed midnight by an hour and a half. Lex sighed and made her way out of bed and over to the girls’ bedroom. If the noise had woken up Hannah, then she’d most likely be huddled up in bed silently panicking.

Sure, enough Hannah was sitting in the middle of her bed, knees to her chest, holding her headphones over her ears. Lex goes over and sits next to her.

“It’s okay, it’ll be over soon.” She says, wrapping her arms around Hannah and rocking her gently.

“It’s loud.” She mutters.

“I know it is, but it’ll be quiet again soon.” They only had to wait a few minutes for the fireworks to eventually end. “See? It’s over now. Do you wanna go back to sleep?”

She nods and lays back down in bed.

Lex tucks the blankets around her and kisses her forehead. “Sweet dreams, Banana, I love you.”

“Love you too.” She mutters as she starts going off to sleep.

Lex goes over to the other side of the room and checks on Ebony, who had somehow managed to remain asleep the entire time. Lex kisses her on the forehead before leaving to go check on Olivia on her way back to bed. 

Olivia was awake and standing up in her cot but didn’t appear to be upset from all the noise that had been going on.

“It’s sleep time, Livi.” She said softly, attempting to tuck her back into bed.

She wasn’t having it, and wrapped her arms around Lex, wanting to be held. “Hug mama.” She said sleepily.

She picks her up and starts swaying side to side. “After some cuddles, are you?” She says, kissing the top of Olivia’s head.

She yawns and snuggles into Lex, quickly falling asleep.

Lex holds her for a little longer before lowering her down into the cot and tucking the blankets around her. “Goodnight.” She whispers, kissing the top of her daughter’s head, quietly making her way out of the room and back to her own bed. She crawls beneath the covers next to Ethan and soon manages to fall asleep herself.


	37. Chapter 87

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not know how to cook rice.

It had been a rough day. Hannah and Ebony had gone back to their respective schools after their Christmas break. And while they were relatively happy to go back, Olivia was quite upset.

Lex hadn’t been feeling well and hadn’t had the best of sleeps either, so a persistently upset toddler wasn’t what she wanted to deal with. Luckily, she was able to pretty quickly distract Olivia with her new Christmas toys and she calmed down.

Even with having calmed down Olivia, the rest of the day hadn’t been that great for Lex. She just had a lot of things to get done and feeling sick wasn’t making it any easier. So, she was quite relieved when Ethan offered to make dinner that night, sparing her the task she knew would make her feel the worst.

“Hey Lex, where’d you put the spaghetti?” Ethan asked from the kitchen, where he was searching the pantry.

“We ran out.” She says going over to him.

“But I was gonna make spaghetti tonight.” He stops searching to look at her.

“Then you should’ve told me that when I was out shopping this afternoon.” She said. “I even asked you if you wanted me to get anything.”

“Yeah, but I saw spaghetti in the cupboard the other day, so figured we had some.” He said, waving his hand at the pantry.

“Was that on Monday? Because I used up what was left when I made spaghetti then. I even told you.” She crossed her arms. Every time he would cook, she would ask him if she needed to get any ingredients for him. But somehow the core ingredient slipped his mind.

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did. Remember you asked if there were any leftovers, and I said that I’d used it all up.”

“Babe, that doesn’t exactly translate to ‘there’s no spaghetti left in the apartment’. I thought you meant that there just weren’t any leftovers. And anyway, if you used the last of it, why didn’t you get a replacement box?” He asked.

“I was going to do that on Saturday when do the big weekly shop. If I knew you were gonna need some tonight, I would’ve gotten it today.” She said. 

“Okay, so we have no spaghetti.” He said, deciding to move on from arguing about why there wasn’t any. He knew that she wasn’t feeling great and didn’t want to make things worse.

“Correct.”

“Do we have anything I could use instead?”

“We might have some pasta somewhere.” She said, moving so that she could look inside the pantry. “Or you could use rice?”

“Would Hannah eat rice with spaghetti sauce?” He asked. He never knew if Hannah would eat whatever he made, though Lex always seemed to know.

“If they were kept separated, she would.” Lex said, continuing to peruse the contents of the cupboard.

“Okay, that could work.” He nods thoughtfully. He reaches past her and pulls out the bag of rice. “You think there’s enough for all of us?” He asks, inspecting the bag.

“Yeah, easily.” She said. She measures out the correct amount of rice into a pot, adding water before sitting it on the stove. “There you go.” She said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving the kitchen.

“What’s for dinner?” Hannah asks as she passes Lex while going from the bathroom to her bedroom.

“Well, it was meant to be spaghetti.” She begins. “But dad forgot to tell me, so we don’t have any. We’ll be having rice and spaghetti sauce instead.” She continued. 

“But they don’t go together.” Hannah said, looking rather concerned.

“Don’t worry, I told him to keep them separate for you.”

Hannah gave a nod before going into her bedroom to continue whatever it was that she and Ebony were doing.

Lex then sees Olivia wandering around by the living room, fingers in her mouth. 

“What are you up to?” She asks, going over to her.

Olivia looked up at her, taking her fingers out of her mouth to reach towards her with both hands. “Mama, up.”

She obliges and picks her up, kissing the side of her head.

She leans into Lex, fingers going back into her mouth.

“Hey Lex.” Ethan called from the kitchen. “I think the rice is burning.”

“How?” She calls back.

“Dada!” Olivia says at the sound of his voice.

“Yeah, let’s go help dad, who apparently can’t cook rice.” She says, walking towards the kitchen. “What did you do?” She asks him upon entering the room.

“I didn’t do anything.” He said defensively.

“Dada, up.” Olivia reaches for him.

“Hey kiddo.” He says, taking her from Lex’s arms.

“You need to stir it.” Lex said, taking the lid off of the pot and grabbing a spoon. She stirs the rice, half of which had glued and burnt itself to the bottom of the pot. She works at dislodging it.

“I did.” He says, watching her.

“Well, you clearly didn’t do a good enough job.” She points out continuing to scrape up burnt rice. “And it shouldn’t have burnt so fast, what temperature did you have it at?”

“On high, so the water would boil.” He said.

“You gotta turn it down after it boils though.” She said.

“But you don’t do that with spaghetti.”

“This isn’t spaghetti.” She was starting to grow rather frustrated with him.

“Well, that was what I was expecting to make.” Ethan said. He was getting a little frustrated himself. He had been wanting to do something to help Lex out, since she hadn’t been feeling that great recently, and all he’d managed to do was make things worse for her.

“I’m hungry.” Ebony said, entering the kitchen. She goes over to Lex and hangs off of her arm. “When’s dinner?”

“Dad burnt it so not for a little while longer, okay?” Lex said.

“But I’m hungry.” She whined.

“You’ll just have to wait.” She said, trying to continue in scraping off the rice to see how much was salvageable, but was hampered by Ebony.

“But mummy!” She pulled hard on Lex’s arm.

“Don’t pull, Ebony.” She said rather sternly. “I know you’re hungry, but dinner isn’t ready yet, so you’re going to have to wait.” The smell from the rice wasn’t helping her be any less frustrated.

“Hey, Ebbi.” Ethan said. “Can you go tall Hannah that dinner’s gonna be a bit longer?”

She sighs dramatically. “Okay.” She says, walking off towards their bedroom.

He puts Olivia down, who starts wondering off after Ebony, before placing a hand over Lex’s as she continued scraping rice from the bottom of the pot. “Hey, let me deal with this.” He says gently. He could see how annoyed she was getting and knew her being sick was only adding the emotion. “Go and have a lie down for a few minutes or something.”

“I’m fine, Ethan.” She said, not looking up at him.

“You’re frustrated and you not feeling good. Just go and relax for a few minutes while I get this all sorted. I’ll come and get you when it’s ready, okay?” He brushed a few strands of hair out of her face, tucking them behind her ear.

She sighs, knowing that he was right. She nods. “Okay, I’ll go lie down. But you better not burn the place down.”

He chuckles. “Don’t worry, babe, I won’t.”

She gives a small smile before kissing him quickly and going off to the bedroom. She normally thought of someone who could be pretty patient with people, but there were days that she just got easily frustrated with everyone and everything. These days didn’t happen overly often though. The last time she’d gotten this annoyed had been when she was pregnant with Olivia.

She paused in the middle of the bedroom doorway. What if she was pregnant now? She had been feeling nauseas all day, and it had been particularly bad that morning. The smell of the rice had made her feel worse, when normally it wouldn’t bother her. She thought back, trying to remember when her last period had been, realising that it had been over a month.

She places a hand on her stomach, looking down at it. Was there a baby there?

“I thought you were gonna go lie down.” Ethan called from the kitchen, where he had a view of her just standing at the bedroom door.

She drops the hand, turning to face him. “I am, I’m just taking my time.” She turns back around and enters the room. She lays down on her back looking up at the ceiling. Her hand makes its way back to her stomach.

Lex knows she needs to take a test. She’d have to run into the shops tomorrow to get one. She doesn’t know when she should tell Ethan. It was nice having him wait for the test results with her last time, but she also doesn’t want to get his hopes up before she knows for certain.

She resolves that she won’t tell him until tomorrow, and she can decide then whether or not to do so before taking the test.

* * *

She entered the apartment pushing Olivia in the stroller and with Ebony right behind her. They had just gotten back from the shops where Lex had bought herself a pregnancy test.

“Mummy, can I watch TV?” Ebony asked already sitting down on the couch and picking up the remote.

Lex decided that this would be the perfect distraction for the girls while she went and took the test. She knew she should probably wait for Ethan, but she wanted to know if she was indeed pregnant. “Yes, you can.” She said, taking Olivia out of the stroller and placing her down on the couch next to Ebony. She takes the remote and puts on a show for the two to watch. “I’ll be back in a second.” She says before going into the bathroom, test in hand.

She sits down on the toilet, removing the test from its packaging and starring at it for a few seconds. She takes a deep breath and takes the test.

She leaves it in the bathroom before setting the timer on her phone and going out to keep an eye on the girls. They were both glued to the TV, heavily invested in the show they were watching.

Watching them, Lex found that she very much wanted there to be another kid there with them. Her hand goes to her stomach, rubbing across the flat surface. She was very much wanting there to be a baby there. She was trying not to get her hopes up too much, just in case the test came back negative. But she had a very strong feeling that it wouldn’t.

Eventually the timer went off, and with the girls still distracted by the TV, Lex made her way back into the bathroom. She paused, nervousness filling her as she neared the test. She closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths before going over to the test to see the results. It was positive.

She smiled, looking over the test again and again to confirm what she was seeing. She loved her kids, and she couldn’t wait for there to be another one to love and care for. Now she just needed to tell Ethan.

She was very much tempted to ring him up and tell him that very moment, but this was definitely the sort of thing she needed to say in person. She’d have to wait until all the girls were in bed asleep, which was hours and hours away. It was going to be hard resisting the urge to tell him the moment he got home. Even more so, since he was picking Hannah up and would be home earlier than normal.

She waited the hours until at last, the girls were in bed and it was just her and Ethan left awake. She was just coming back from getting Hannah to bed and had grabbed the test on her way back. 

Ethan was sitting on the couch watching a movie, completely oblivious to the fact that he was going to be the father to another child.

She approached him slowly, the test in one hand. She sat down next to him, suddenly nervous.

He turns and smiles at her before returning his attention to his movie.

“Ethan?” She says after a few moments.

“Yeah?”

“I need to show you something.”

He pauses the movie and turns to better face her. “Show me what?”

Silently, she hands him the test, watching for his reaction.


	38. Chapter 88

He held a slightly confused expression on his face as he took the test from her. He looks down at it, then back up at her, repeating the action several times, not quite believing what he is being shown.

“Lex.” He says, his gaze returning to her once more. “Are you…” He trails off, trying to hold back a smile.

She nods. “Yeah, I’m pregnant.”

His face splits into a wide grin. He wraps his arms around her, pulling her close and kissing her.

She smiles and kisses back.

“Wow.” He says as they break apart. “I can’t believe that we’re having another kid.” He couldn’t stop smiling. He was so happy and so excited about getting to have another kid with Lex. “How are you feeling?” He asks. “You and the baby?”

“Baby’s all good as far as I can tell.” She says, shifting closer and snuggling into him. “And I’m really excited.” 

He kisses her once more. “To think that our plan was to hold off on having kids until we were like thirty, and here we are with three and a half.”

“Yeah, but I’m glad we didn’t stick to that plan. I can’t imagine our lives without the girls.” She said, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Me neither.” He agreed, one of his hands trailing down to her stomach. “How far along do you think you are?”

She shrugs. “Probably something like four to six weeks.” She said.

He nods. “You haven’t had much morning sickness though, have you? You’ve just felt sick, but you haven’t thrown up, right?”

She shifts a little from where she was leaning against him. “I’ve thrown up a few times actually.” She says quietly.

He sits up a little straighter and looks at her slightly concerned. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Well, there’s nothing you could’ve done, and you were always asleep.” She said. She decides not to mention how she didn’t want him worrying about her.

“Well, next time wake me up.” He pulls her close and kisses the side of her head. “I want to take care of you when you’re not feeling great.”

“I know.” She kisses his cheek before resting her head on his shoulder, letting out a yawn.

“Tired?” He smiles down at her.

“Have you ever tried growing a human? It’s exhausting.” She closes her eyes and makes herself comfortable against him.

“I can imagine.” He chuckles lightly. “Do you wanna go to bed?” It was still a bit on the early side for them to go to sleep, but Lex often went to bed early while pregnant, so he figured this time would be no different.

She gives a noncommittal hum, continuing to doze on his shoulder. She was too excited to go to sleep and was happy to just get to cuddle up with Ethan on the couch.

He kisses the top of her head, letting out a contented sigh. “I can’t believe we’re having another baby. Liv’s still a baby herself.” He says softly.

“You realise she’s almost two, right?” Lex said, not opening her eyes.

“I know, but she’s still a baby.” He had decided he was firmly against the idea of his kids growing up. He loved his little girls and knew that things were going to be no different with this baby.

“Yeah.” Lex agreed, letting out a small sigh. “But she won’t be the baby for much longer.” She smiled as she placed a hand on her stomach.

Ethan’s hand joined hers, giving her hand a small squeeze.

They sit in silence for several moments until Lex spoke once more. “Do you remember when you came home from that New Year’s party?”

He thought for a few seconds. “Not really.”

“Well, you came home and walked into absolutely everything because you didn’t want to turn the lights on and wake anyone up. Then you came to bed and told me I was pretty then declared that we should have more kids.” She said, recapping him on their rather short interaction that night before he fell asleep. 

“Okay.” He said waiting for her to finish her point.

“I’m pretty sure I was already pregnant then. Probably only a week or so along and you just happened to say that you wanted more kids.” She said. “Kinda serendipitous, don’t you think?”

“Yeah.” He says, agreeing with her. “Though it’s not exactly out of character for me to say that. You know I think you’re pretty.” He places a hand on her cheek, tilting her face so that he could kiss her lips.

She sticks her tongue out at him before resting her head back down on his shoulder.

“And the bit about wanting more kids; well, I’m sure I’ve probably told you before that I want as many as you’ll let me.” He says, rubbing his hand across her stomach. “I love you and our kids so much.”

She smiles at him, lifting her head to kiss him. “We love you too. You’re such an amazing dad to them.”

“And you’re an amazing mum.” He says, kissing her again. He knew she held a bit of doubt as to how good of a mother she actually was, but he knew she was the best possible mother for their kids. “I can’t wait to meet this kid.”

“Me neither.” She kisses him back.

There was a loud knock on the front door.

“Who’s gonna be coming over at this hour?” Lex asked, rather perplexed as she checked the time.

“No idea.” He says, equally as confused.

She makes to stand up, but he stops her.

“Let’s just ignore them. It’s probably nothing anyway.” He didn’t want to be brought out of the happy bubble he was in with her.

Whoever it was knocks again, even harder than before.

They remain cuddled up on the couch, continuing to ignore the knocking.

The person outside their apartment knocked again, though it was more of a banging. “Ethan!” Came the voice of his father from the other side of the door.

Lex and Ethan both froze where they sat.

“Why’s your dad here?” She says quietly.

“Same reason he’s always here probably.” He replies. He wanted to go and tell his dad to fuck off but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of answering the door.

“Ethan, I know you can hear me!” He yelled, continuing to pound on the door. “Open the damn door!”

With the amount of noise that his dad was producing, Ethan worried that he may wake up the girls. He decides there’s nothing for it but to tell his dad to just go away. He looks over and sees that the yelling was making Lex rather nervous. He gives her hand a squeeze before standing up and marching over to the door. He opens it up a crack, keeping it on the chain. “I’ve opened the door. Happy now?” He tries to close it, but his dad sticks his foot in the way.

“I want to talk to you.” He says.

“Well, I don’t want to talk to you.” He tries to close the door again but is once more stopped.

“I want to keep this civil, Ethan.”

“You call banging the door down, trying to wake up my kids civil?” He scoffed.

His dad clears his throat and continues as if Ethan hadn’t said anything. “So, if you could open the door and let me in, we can sit down and have a nice little chat.” He tries to push the door open further, though the chain prevents him from doing so.

“It’s late, dad. I’m not letting you in.”

“You will do as I say!” His booming voice echoed throughout the apartment. As soon as the noise dissipated the sound of Olivia crying could be heard.

“You want to be civil? Then maybe we can talk somewhere public during the day. But I don’t want you to come into my home and disturb my family, okay? You’ve already woken up my daughter, so I think you’ve done enough tonight.” He manages to push his dad’s foot out of the doorframe and shuts the door firmly, sliding the deadbolt into place.

He turns away from the door and walks back into the apartment. He can hear Lex soothing Olivia’s cries. He decides to check on the other two girls. He opens their bedroom door, sticking his head in. 

Ebony is obliviously asleep, but Hannah was awake sitting up in bed hugging her knees to her chest.

“Hey Banana.” He said softly going over sitting beside her. “You okay?”

“Why was there yelling?” She asks.

He sighs. There was no point trying to lie to her, so she might as well know the truth. “My dad was at the door.” He said.

“Why?”

“He said he wanted to talk.” Ethan shrugs.

“I don’t like your dad.” She says matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, I don’t really like him that much either.” He said. Once upon a time they had been close when Ethan was really little. But they just drifted apart. His dad started working more and he never saw him and then he had started dating Lex, which his dad didn’t like at all. 

“Is he gonna come back?” She asks.

“I don’t know.” He says. “But let’s not talk about this right now, it’s pretty late and you’re meant to be asleep.” He kisses her on the forehead and tucks her under her blankets. “Night, Split.” 

“Na-night dad.” She says, closing her eyes.

He slowly gets up and walks over to Ebony’s bed just to make sure that she was asleep before he leaves the room, shutting the door softly behind him. He finds Lex sitting on the couch holding Olivia who had stopped crying at this point. 

“She okay?” He asks, sitting next to them.

“Yeah, she’s fine.” Lex said, leaning into him.

“Dada.” Olivia said rather sleepily, thumb stuck in her mouth as she rested her head on Lex’s shoulder.

“Go back to sleep, kiddo.” He said softly, rubbing her back.

She mumbled something unintelligible as she started to drift off to sleep.

After several minutes of silence Lex spoke.

“Why won’t he just leave us alone.” She said quietly so as not disturb Olivia.

“I don’t know, babe.” He wraps an arm around her, and she rests her head on his shoulder.

“I don’t want him near the kids.” She said, holding Olivia close.

“We won’t let him.” Ethan didn’t want him near Lex either, especially because of the baby. The last time his dad had gotten near a pregnant Lex it hadn’t ended well, and he did not want a repeat of that experience. “But let’s not think about him right now.” He didn’t want his dad to ruin what had been such a joyful night further.

She nods. “Our little one is gonna be a big sister soon.” She says, nodding at Olivia who was now properly asleep, drooling a little on Lex’s shoulder.

“Yeah.” He says. “I wonder how she’ll react when she finds out about the baby.”

“Who’s to say.” She shrugs. “I hope she’ll be happy, though she’ll probably just be confused. Do you think Hannah and Ebbi will be happy about the baby?”

“Definitely.” He said. He knew for sure that Hannah would be excited, and he was pretty sure Ebony would be too. It was really just Olivia who was going to be the wildcard.

“We’re gonna be outnumbered two-one.” She said, one hand leaving Olivia to rest upon her stomach. She still wasn’t over the initial excitement of finding out that she was pregnant but was starting to properly realise that there was going to be a fourth child in the apartment.

“Yep, but we’ll manage.” He kisses the side of her head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My goodness it's been a while since I've updated. Sorry about that, I just kept getting distracted. But I finally got this chapter written!

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, it be a sequel! I don't know about you guys but I'm excited!
> 
> Also Hannah is me. I just got a paint with diamonds kit and I love it. And every friday a regular comes to my work with his corgis and I always go and say hello to them.
> 
> Also also, I'm not convinced by the title for this story so I might change it, feel free to give me suggestions if you have any. And don't freak out if the title does change.


End file.
